Andrey Vladimirovich Shlyachkov is an Honoured Artist of Russia, born in 1970 in the city of Dresden, GDR. He graduated from the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music in 1995, where his mentors were Professors N. N. Nekrasov (conducting) and P. I. Necheporenko (balalaika); from 2011 to 2013 he undertook an internship, and from 2015 to 2017 completed a professional retraining programme in the Opera and Symphonic Conducting Department of the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in the class of Professor Vladimir Alexandrovich Ponkin.
From 1994 to 2010 he worked in the Academic Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra of the All‑Russia State Television and Radio Company as an orchestra musician, from 2010 to 2018 as a conductor, and from 2018 to 2023 as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor.
Andrey Shlyachkov has collaborated with artists such as Iosif Kobzon, Vladislav P’yavko, Boris Akimov, Irina Dolzhenko, Vasily Gerello, Vasily Ladyuk, Askar and Ildar Abdrazakov, Dmitry Korchak, Lyubov Petrova, Yevgeny Dyatlov, as well as soloists of leading Moscow opera theatres and young instrumental soloists, laureates of all‑Russian and international competitions.
The conductor has appeared in many concert halls, including:
- the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory;
- the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music;
- the Chamber Hall of the Moscow International House of Music;
- the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall;
- the Sergei Rachmaninov Concert Hall (Philharmonia‑2);
- the Zaryadye Concert Hall;
- the Column Hall of the House of Unions;
- the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music Concert Hall, among others.
In 2012–2013 he and the Academic Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra of the All‑Russia State Television and Radio Company enjoyed great success on tour in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and together with the Orchestra he prepared and recorded a series of programmes for the television project «Romantika romansa» on the Kultura channel.
In May 2015 Andrey Shlyachkov made a successful opera‑conducting debut at the Helikon‑Opera Moscow Musical Theatre under the direction of Dmitry Bertman with Georges Bizet’s «Carmen», and from 2015 to 2018 he served as a conductor of that theatre.
His operatic repertoire has included:
- G. Bizet’s «Carmen»;
- F. Poulenc’s «Dialogues des Carmélites»;
- N. A. Rimsky‑Korsakov’s «Sadko»;
- P. I. Tchaikovsky’s «Eugene Onegin»;
- D. F. Tukhmanov’s «The Tsaritsa»;
- W. A. Mozart’s «La finta giardiniera».
He has also taken part in productions of the following operas:
- R. Leoncavallo’s «Pagliacci»;
- G. Puccini’s «Turandot»;
- G. Verdi’s «Il trovatore»;
- A. Manotskov’s «Chaadskiy».
He has conducted the following orchestras, among others:
- the Nizhny Novgorod Academic Symphony Orchestra;
- the Lipetsk State Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra;
- the Kaliningrad Regional Musical Theatre;
- the D. A. Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre;
- the Novosibirsk Russian Academic Orchestra;
- the Belgorod State Philharmonic Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra;
- the Lipetsk State Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra.
On 21 February 2018 he took part in the 9th International Festival «Parade of Stars at the Opera», dedicated to Dmitri Hvorostovsky and held at the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre, where he conducted Rimsky‑Korsakov’s «Sadko».
From 2021 to 2024 Andrey V. Shlyachkov worked as assistant to Professor V. A. Ponkin in the Opera and Symphonic Conducting Department of the Maimonides State Academy, and since 2022 has taught in the Conducting Department of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music; in September 2024 he was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Gnesin Academy Concert Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra «Akademiya».
For his artistic achievements he has been awarded the Medal of the International Union of Musical Figures (2006), received a letter of gratitude from the Minister of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation «For his significant contribution to national culture and many years of fruitful work» (2010), and became a laureate of the national award «Imperial Culture» (2022).
By Presidential Decree of the Russian Federation No. 570 of 3 October 2021 «On Awarding State Honours of the Russian Federation», for his major contribution to the development of Russian culture and art and many years of fruitful activity, he was granted the honorary title «Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation».
