October 1 is the International Music Day, a holiday celebrated all over the world by all musicians and lovers of this wonderful art. Our vocal and instrumental studios and choirs also celebrate it in MEPhI. And now we have our own orchestra (external link)! The MEPhI press service spoke with its head, Nikolai Mitin, a graduate of the conducting faculty of the Moscow Conservator

- You have been working at our nuclear university not so long ago, how many people have already managed to gather under your baton?

 - 17 people. These are seven violinists, two alto saxophonists, a trombonist, a flutist, a double bass player, a bass guitarist, two guitarists, a pianist and a drummer. We started rehearsing in October last year, managed to perform here on New Year's Eve, at graduation, and outside of MEPhI – at a charity concert of the Circles of Peace Foundation in front of the Sisters of Mercy.

- How often do you rehearse, because our students are very busy?

 - Twice a week, we rehearse on weekends in free classrooms and in the dining room No. 3, where there is a piano.

 - What is the repertoire of the orchestra and who chooses the pieces to perform?

 - We discuss what the guys would like to play, I also look for a repertoire and then choose what is really arranged for our line-up. We are an amateur band, and therefore not everything is within the power of our musicians, and not every piece can be transferred to such a composition of instruments – and first of all, we need all the musicians to be involved. Therefore, now we are playing pop classics and film music, a light genre – "The Lonely Shepherd", "Pink Panther", "Spring is coming, spring is on the way!", as well as a medley of such famous melodies as "ChiMai" from "Professional", "Yesterday", "Strangers in the night", etc. We performed some of these works at the Moscow Sounds competition at the Concert Hall named after him. Gnessin and became laureates of the II degree.

- In the 1960s and 70s, MEPhI had its own orchestra, who initiated the revival of the orchestra now?

 - I first came to the Center of Student Creative Associations with the idea of creating a chapel, that is, a choir plus an orchestra – I had experience conducting and leading collectives back at the conservatory. But there are already so many choirs here. Therefore, we decided to focus on instrumentalists, and later, when the band becomes stable, it will be possible to perform with our choirs. So far, one of the immediate plans is the II international Russian-Chinese multi-genre competition "Country of Dancing Dragons".

 - Should I probably get you a branded mythical concert uniform?

 - It will definitely be, and with the emblem of the orchestra. In the meantime, we are performing in a classic way – black dresses, blouses, shirts and trousers.

- Why do physicists and programmers need orchestral music? Do young people probably want to dance or listen rather than perform? After all, this is a big burden in addition to studying.

 - The art of music brings us closer, it is understood by any person on the planet, without explanation – you do not need to study specifically for this. By the way, we have a university with a lot of international students. Music is the language of the soul…

 - And a physicist has it, and even an IT technician, oddly enough, right?

 - Of course, we have students in the orchestra from almost all our institutes, and there are guys from other universities. Music is also good for the brain, especially if you can listen to it. And then the space around you begins to be perceived differently, and work, and take shape.