Ivan Glebovich Sokolov

Ivan Glebovich Sokolov, a Russian composer and pianist, was born in Moscow on 29 August 1960. He belongs to the generation of Soviet and post-Soviet musicians who combined academic training with an early curiosity about avant-garde music. His profile is of interest because it unites his work as a performer, with a repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Boulez, and original composition, in which several currents converge without his adhering to any single one.

His training began in a musical family environment. At the age of eight he started studying composition with Georgy Dmitriyev and, at twelve, piano with Lev Naumov. After passing through the Gnesin College of Music, he studied piano with Irina Naumova between 1974 and 1978, and then entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied composition with Sidel'nikov, orchestration with Denisov and counterpoint with Yury Kholopov and Konstantin Batashov. After military service he was assistant professor in Sidel'nikov's composition class (1984-1986), and later taught at the music college attached to the conservatory. From 1988 he was in charge of orchestration and score reading in the relevant department. In 1987 he joined the Union of Composers and in 1995 he became a member of the Cheboksary Society of Bellmanists.

As a performer, Sokolov champions a personal and at times paradoxical reading of composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Mozart and Schumann, designed to reveal new aspects of their works. His repertoire also includes Boulez, Crumb and Stockhausen, as well as Russian composers such as Korndorf, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Sidel'nikov, Tarnopol'sky and Ustvolskaya.

As a composer he draws on a broad range of resources. He is especially interested in instrumental theatre, conceptualism, minimalism and polystylism. In recent years he has explored the possibility of freeing himself from any one particular stylistic tendency, an idea reflected in works such as Ptichka v kletkye (Bird in a Cage) for flute, O zhizni (About Life) for piano and Vdrug (Suddenly) for violin.

His works include Leto (Summer), for narrator, actress and strings, from 1994, and the opera-cryptophony Opera-kriptofonika, premiered in Moscow on 31 May 1995 in collaboration with S. Nevrayev and I. Yusupova. His chamber and piano music is extensive, among it 10 p'yes for flute and piano (1983), Korabli v more (Ships at Sea) for two pianos (1990) and Taynïye pis'mena (Secret Letters) for violin, viola, piano and synthesiser (1995). For piano, notable pieces include 5 videniy (1983), Mïsli o Rakhmaninove (Thoughts on Rachmaninoff, 1991) and O Keydzhye, a triptych of 1992 dedicated to Cage.

His legacy lies at the intersection of performer and composer: his work at the piano has helped to disseminate contemporary Russian and Western music, and his written output reflects a search that questions stylistic labels.