Andrey I. Mikita

Composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, and musical public figure.

He was born in Leningrad in 1959. He studied composition and piano at the Leningrad Special Music School (ten‑year school) attached to the Conservatory (teachers T. B. Rumshyevich, V. G. Arzumanov, Yu. A. Simakin) and at the Leningrad Conservatory (teachers N. Ye. Perelman and B. I. Tishchenko). He later transferred to the Moscow Conservatory, from which he graduated in piano (1983) and composition (1984), and in 1989 he completed the assistant‑internship programme there as a pianist. Among his teachers were S. G. Neugaus, Ye. V. Malinin, T. N. Khrennikov, T. A. Chudova, and A. V. Tchaikovsky.

A. Mikita has been a member of the Union of Composers since 1989.

He is currently Chair of the composers’ association «MOST» (Musical Association «Contemporary Tradition»).

The works of A. Mikita are widely performed in major philharmonic halls across Russia (including the Grand Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, the Grand Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, and regional philharmonic halls), in concert halls in many other countries (Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, Israel, Argentina, Japan), and in the opera and ballet theatres of St. Petersburg, Saratov, Omsk, and Kyiv.

His Christian hymns are sung in services in numerous Orthodox churches in Russia (including at Patriarchal services in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour), as well as in Christian communities in Europe and America.

Among the performers of A. Mikita’s music are renowned symphonic and choral ensembles including:

• the Russian National Orchestra;
• the Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia;
• the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra;
• the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra;
• the Ural Symphony Orchestra;
• the Petrozavodsk Philharmonic Orchestra;
• the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra;
• the A. V. Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Choir;
• the Mariinsky Theatre Chorus;
• the Mikhailovsky Theatre Chorus;
• the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Symphony Chorus;
• the Yaroslavl Choral Capella «Yaroslaviya»;
• the Moscow Synodal Choir;
• the Patriarchal Choir of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour;
• the Kozhevnikov Regional Choir;
• the Vadim Sudakov Capella;
• the Choir and Orchestra of the Kuzbass Philharmonic;
• the Academic Choir of the National Radio Company of Ukraine, among many others.

Conductors and soloists:
Valery Gergiev, Fabio Mastrangelo, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Ilmars Lapins, Dimitris Botinis, Conrad van Alphen, Alexander Rudin, Vladimir Minin, Vladislav Chernushenko, Andrey Petrenko, Lyudmila Litsova, Alexey Puzakov, Dmitry Onegin, Maxim Fedotov, Sergei Antonov, Alexander Buzlov, Nikita Boriso‑Glebsky, and Andrey Ivanov.

The music of A. Mikita is regularly broadcast on television and radio («Channel One Russia», «Russia‑1», TV «Kultura», Public Television of Russia, «Radio Russia», «Narodnoe Radio», «Radio Vera», and others) and has been released on CD.

A. I. Mikita serves on the juries of numerous musical and musical‑educational competitions and festivals, including the international competition «Roman the Sweet‑Singer» in St. Petersburg and the Patriarchal Festival «Sacred Songs of the Christian World». He publishes articles, commentaries, and interviews on current issues in contemporary musical culture in Russian and international media.

Since 2010 he has collaborated with Yamaha Music Russia in introducing innovative technologies into Russian music education and concert life. As part of this collaboration he has organised and run the Moscow stage of the Minnesota International Piano‑e‑Competition, the piano category of the international competition «Muses of the World», and local and remote masterclasses by leading piano teachers for students of music institutions in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, the United States, Japan, and Australia.

Since 2013 he has been author and host of a regular subscription series run by the MOST creative association at the Moscow State Philharmonic. Each themed programme juxtaposes works by Russian classics with those of contemporary composers. Past seasons have included the themes «A Bridge in All Four Directions», «Three Capitals (Kyiv, St. Petersburg, Moscow)», «Georgy Sviridov and His Heirs», «Mountains, Steppes, and Forests (The Musical Deposit of the Russian Empire, 1916–2016)», and «Other Shores» (Russian music dedicated to other peoples and cultures).

Since 2015 he has been a member of the Artistic Council of the Moscow Regional Philharmonic.

Since 2016 he has been a Visiting Professor at Sakuyo University in Japan.

A. I. Mikita has taught at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music since 2001. He has worked in the Department of Applied Musical Arts since its establishment in 2012, and in the 2022–2023 academic year he transferred to the post of Professor in the Department of Composition.

In 2012–2013 he developed the following original courses:

• «Innovative Technologies in Contemporary Performance»;
• «Innovative Technologies in Contemporary Piano Teaching»;
• «Innovative Technologies in Contemporary Composition»;
• «Musical Improvisation and Arranging»;
• «Instrument Studies for Piano Students».

In 2015 he developed the following original courses:

• «Arranging and Transcribing Ensemble Works»;
• «Editing Chamber‑Ensemble Scores».

In 2018 he developed the following original course:

• «Choral Arranging».

Awards and prizes:

• Laureate diploma at the All‑Russian Competition of Sacred Music for his composition Bogoroditse Devo, raduysya (Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos);
• Laureate diploma in the competition for the best cadenzas to Mozart’s piano concertos (Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, marking the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth).