Gleb Kolyadin

Gleb Kolyadin was born on July 11, 1989 in the Soviet city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). He studied classical piano at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory under Professor Vladimir Polyakov, graduating in 2015. Since 2010, he has been the composer and pianist of the two-piece progressive rock group iamthemorning, which won Prog magazine's "Album of the Year" at the Progressive Music Awards in 2016.[1]

Kolyadin has played many concerts in Russia and Europe since 2011, collaborating with musicians and artists such as Árstíðir (Iceland), Gazpacho (Norway), Balmorhea (USA), Djivan Gasparyan (Armenia), and Riverside (Poland). He joined the tango ensemble Orquesta Primavera in 2013, which was the ensemble behind the first regular Russian milonga with live music - "Milonga la Primavera".

Kolyadin started composing music for theatrical performances in 2015, and has written works for the Alexandrinsky Theatre, the Saint Petersburg Comedy Theatre, and the Volkov Theatre in Yaroslavl, as well as the projection show Así es Michoacán (Mexico).[2] He is an active performer in the world of modern classical music, and has played the Russian debuts of many compositions, including Textures by Paul Lansky, 2×5 by Steve Reich, Tubular Bells II by Mike Oldfield, and more.

In 2018, he released his first solo album Gleb Kolyadin on the British label Kscope. A number of prominent prog musicians participated in the recording: drummer Gavin Harrison (King Crimson, Porcupine Tree), bass player Nick Beggs and saxophonist Theo Travis of Steven Wilson's solo band, keyboardist Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), and vocalists Steve Hogarth (Marillion) and Mick Moss (Antimatter).[3] The album ranked 15th in Prog magazine's Top 50 2018 albums list and was shortlisted for the Progressive Music Awards in two categories – Album of the Year and International Band/Artist of the Year.[4]

As part of the project Eidolon, Kolyadin recorded music for an exhibition of works by artist Arseny Blinov, held at the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater.[5] He has recorded with the band The Grand Astoria and has recorded several compositions by Dmitry Maksimachev. In 2018, Kolyadin was a guest musician on the song "Prayers of the Dead" by Bi-2 and Boris Grebenshchikov.[6] In the summer of 2019, he was a composer on Diana Vishneva's Context Project.[7]

In 2019 and 2020 Kolyadin was voted best keyboardist of the year by readers of Prog magazine.[8]

Kolyadin's Three Miniatures with the string arrangement by Grigory Losenkov was performed by OpensoundOrchestra on December 1, 2020, at the Zaryadye Concert Hall in Moscow as a part of the "PULSE" concert series featuring works by contemporary composers and important works of the turn of the XX-XXI centuries.

• Official website