Viktor Panin was born in 1953 in Serpukhov, Moscow Region. He received his first musical training from I. T. Buravtsov, a renowned local musician and director of Russian folk instrument orchestras, and continued his studies at the Novomoskovsk Music College (balalaika with G. I. Ovechkin, piano with T. P. Antonova).
He went on to complete higher academic music studies in Moscow at the Gnesin State Music and Pedagogical Institute (now the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music), graduating from two faculties: Folk Instruments (balalaika with V. B. Boldyrev) and Historical, Theoretical, and Composition Studies (composition with Nikolai I. Peiko). His development as a young composer was significantly shaped by Georgy I. Litinsky (polyphony), Olga A. Ulbabova (piano), and Yuri N. Shishakov (orchestration).
Panin is a laureate of All‑Russian composition competitions (1980, 1981) and of the All‑Union Students’ Composition Competition (1982).
He has been a member of the Union of Composers of Russia since 1985.
After graduating from the Gnesin Academy, Panin taught at the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts (1977–1988) and at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music (1988–1993), and worked with the A. V. Alexandrov Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army and the Moscow Philharmonic; he also toured in Japan and Tunisia. From 1998 to 2014 he taught at the K. N. Igumnov Children’s Music School in Moscow.
Viktor Panin gives author concerts, participates in international music festivals, and publishes teaching aids and collections of his own music.
Prizes at national and international competitions:
- Honorary diploma at the 7th All‑Russian Patriotic Music Competition (1980);
- Third Prize at the 8th All‑Russian Patriotic Music Competition (1981);
- Second Prize at the All‑Union Review‑Competition for Student Composers of Music Universities (1983);
- First Prize at the 3rd All‑Russian Orchestration Competition, 2nd International Festival of National Orchestras of the World (2015);
- First Prize at the 6th International Chamber Ensemble Competition‑Festival “Elite”, Bar, Montenegro (2019);
- Composer’s Diploma at the 18th All‑Russian Festival “Music of Russia” (2022);
- Orchestrator’s Diploma at the 10th All‑Russian Orchestration Competition within the 19th All‑Russian Festival “Music of Russia” (2022);
- First‑Degree Laureate of the 19th All‑Russian Festival “Music of Russia” (2022);
- Second‑Degree Laureate of the All‑Russian (with international participation) Competition “Yenisey Fanfares”, Krasnoyarsk (2022).
Panin’s oeuvre spans many genres, including opera, symphonic poem, choral and chamber‑instrumental music, romances, songs, and scores for theatre and dance productions; his works are performed by leading soloists and ensembles.
More than twenty of his students have become laureates of All‑Russian and international competitions.
Music for Russian folk instruments occupies a special place in Panin’s output: he has written vivid, distinctive works for balalaika, domra, zvonchatye gusli, folk voice, and for ensembles and orchestra of Russian folk instruments.
He has also written articles on well‑known balalaika performers Mikhail Rozhkov, Yevgeny Avksentyev, and Vladimir Boldyrev, as well as the following books and teaching aids:
- “Pavel Necheporenko: Performer, Teacher, Conductor”;
- “Balalaika” (unpublished);
- “Instruments of the Academic Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments”;
- “Anthology of Score Reading and Conducting for Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments”, in two parts (co‑authored with S. Yashina).
The music of Viktor Panin has become the subject of musicological research, including student dissertations and theses; his work is discussed in the books of musicologists M. I. Imkhanitsky, M. F. Leonova, V. A. Smirnov, A. A. Usov, and V. Chayran.
