1. Your conducting career has been shaped by years of training and working with top conductors. What is your own experience of working with young musicians at the outset of their careers, particularly in the context of your Opera Academy? Do you believe that there is a specific approach that is needed for young artists? What guidelines do you give them to help them develop their interpretation while maintaining their artistic integrity?
Every young artist needs guidance. It’s not enough to have talent and work hard – what’s often missing is experience. And experience doesn’t come overnight. It’s something you earn over time, through mistakes, through perseverance. Life has a way of teaching us its most valuable lessons gradually, often repeating them until we’ve truly learned. These experiences shape us, not only as artists but as people. They help us grow into fuller, more expressive versions of ourselves.
I’ve had the privilege of working with young musicians for over three decades now, and it’s been one of the most fulfilling parts of my career. Giving back to the next generation is incredibly rewarding. I remember my own mentors – Boulez, Maazel, Leitner, Mehli Mehta – with such affection and gratitude. They shaped me profoundly, not just musically, but in how I view the responsibility of being an artist.
At the Pehlivanian Opera Academy (PPOA), our focus is on giving young conductors and singers practical, hands-on experience. Conducting can only be truly learned by doing it with a live orchestra. That’s why we provide extensive podium time with pianists and then with a professional orchestra. Once the opera is ready, we take it on a national tour. Every conductor gets a chance to lead multiple performances, which is an incredibly rare opportunity.
The same applies to our singers. Whether they are debuting a role or refining one they’ll carry into their professional careers, they benefit from performing it repeatedly, in different venues, and in front of live audiences. It builds stamina, confidence, and artistry.
One of the most beautiful aspects of the Academy is how it brings together people from all over the world. Different cultures, different languages, and yet we all speak music. That shared language creates deep connections. As for musical integrity, our first responsibility is always to the composer. We aim to respect Mozart’s – or any composer’s – intentions, while also preserving the vocal and musical traditions that have been passed down through generations. Our coaches take pride in sharing that heritage with our young artists.

2. The Pehlivanian Opera Academy offers young singers and conductors a unique opportunity to work on complex opera productions. How important is it for you, as the Academy’s founder, to give these young artists the opportunity to put themselves to the test in works like Don Giovanni, that are full of complex characters and philosophical questions? How does this collaboration contribute to their understanding of art and their further artistic development, at both the musical and the personal level?
It’s absolutely essential. Young professionals need to test themselves in fully professional settings. Based on my decades of experience teaching at national conservatories and music academies, I designed PPOA to bring together all the key elements of training – technical, artistic, and human – into one comprehensive programme.
We push our artists to reach for their highest potential, and we often see them exceed even their own expectations. That kind of breakthrough is what we strive for – moments where they realise they are capable of more than they thought.
But PPOA isn’t just about technical excellence. The bonds that are formed among our artists – the conductors, singers, and musicians – are equally important. There’s something transformative about working together on a shared artistic goal. The individual becomes part of something larger than themselves. That sense of collectivity, of mutual support and shared responsibility, is central to our philosophy.
We’ve seen how PPOA becomes more than just a training ground – it becomes a life-changing experience. Musically, socially, even personally.

3. Don Giovanni is an opera that combines comic, serious and supernatural elements, while at the same time dealing with profound moral questions. In a concert performance, where the visual element of theatre is removed, how does the conductor reconcile these different layers? How do you maintain the balance between humour and seriousness, both of which are an essential part of Mozart and Da Ponte’s intentions?
Don Giovanni is a brilliant blend of opposites – it’s light and dark, comic and tragic, human and supernatural. That’s what makes it such a masterpiece. Mozart and Da Ponte knew exactly how to walk that line, and it’s our responsibility as performers to honour that delicate balance.
As a conductor, I maintain this balance by carefully shaping the pacing, dynamics, and character interactions, always guided by Mozart’s score. His music tells us when to lean into the humour and when to pull back into the more serious and reflective moments. For example, Leporello’s comic scenes need a sense of playfulness and agility, while Don Giovanni’s final scene with the Commendatore calls for gravity and dramatic weight.
Even in a concert or semi-staged setting, it’s very possible to achieve this contrast. At PPOA, our performances are semi-staged – we don’t strip away the theatrical element entirely. Singers move, act, and even bring their own costumes. We use simple props to create a sense of setting and character, so the drama still comes across.
What’s more, this format allows the audience to experience moments of both visual engagement and pure musical focus. Some scenes benefit from visual cues, while others shine more clearly when the audience is simply listening. That interplay is part of what makes our productions so dynamic.

4. Despite the fact that concert performances remove the visual element, the words and music of Don Giovanni often prove powerful enough to tell the story on their own. Do you think a concert performance allows a purer experience of the music, in that it allows listeners to focus more intently on Mozart’s complexity, or can it sometimes happen that some aspects of the opera are overlooked without the theatrical elements?
It’s true that, in some cases, removing the visual element can deepen the audience’s connection to the music. Without stage distractions, they can focus entirely on the intricacies of Mozart’s orchestration, the vocal phrasing, and the emotional nuances in the score.
However, Don Giovanni is a dramatic work, and certain scenes really do benefit from visual and physical storytelling. That’s why our semi-staged format tries to give the best of both worlds. We simplify the staging, but don’t eliminate it entirely.
For this production, because of the time constraints at our venues, we’ve had to make a few adaptations. We’re omitting some of the recitatives with continuo, to keep the performance under two and a half hours. But we’re carefully choosing which moments to keep, so the dramatic flow and clarity of the story are not lost. The priority is always Mozart’s music and the emotional core of the opera.

5. Mozart’s opera raises questions of freedom, responsibility and morality – all subjects that are still very relevant in today’s world. How do you as an artist see the connection between the subjects Mozart addresses in Don Giovanni and our present social and cultural environment? Do you think music has the power to change our perspective on these topics today, or has the moral context of the opera changed so much over the centuries that it now appears more distant from our daily lives?
Many of the characters in Don Giovanni still feel incredibly relevant today. Don Giovanni himself – charismatic, manipulative, and ultimately destructive – is a type we encounter all too often in the real world. He’s in the headlines, on social media, in the ongoing global conversations about power, abuse, and accountability.
The opera thus raises timeless questions about moral responsibility, personal freedom, and the consequences of our actions. These themes are not dated, but are very much alive in today’s social and cultural context.
Music, I believe, has the power to shift our perspective. It doesn’t preach, but it reaches us emotionally, bypassing our defences. When we experience these stories through music, we feel the weight of the characters’ choices more intimately. That emotional engagement can lead to deeper reflection, and sometimes, real change in how we view ourselves and the world around us.


Come to the place where Mozart’s greatness will resonate – 5 August 2025, at Slovenian Philharmonic.
Tickets for 73. Ljubljana Festival events are available at ljubljanafestival.si, the Križanke Box Office, Petrol gas stations, and other Eventim out lets.