Leonid Arkadievich Desyatnikov (, born 16 October 1955) is a composer. He is a member of the St. Petersburg Union of Composers. Desyatnikov is the author of multiple operas, cantatas and compositions. His best known works are The Children of Rosenthal, his score for the ballet Lost Illusions, the opera Poor Liza; Gift, a cantata on poems by Gavriil Derzhavin; Dichterliebe und -leben, a vocal cycle on poems by Daniil Kharms and Nikolay Oleynikov; The Leaden Echo for voice(s) and instruments on the poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins; The Rite of Winter 1949, a symphony for choir, soloists and orchestra; and Songs of Bukovina for piano.
Leonid Desyatnikov was born on October 16, 1955 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. He studied composition and instrumentation at the Leningrad Conservatory in St. Petersburg.
He has written four operas, several cantatas and numerous vocal and instrumental compositions. His principal compositions include: The Children of Rosenthal (an opera in two acts; libretto, Vladimir Sorokin), commissioned by the Bolshoi Theatre; Poor Liza (a chamber opera in one act; with libretto by the composer, after the novel by Nikolai Karamzin); Gift (a cantata based on the verses of Gavrila Derzhavin); The Leaden Echo (a work for voice(s) and instruments based on the poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins); and The Rite of Winter 1949 (a symphony for chorus, soloists and orchestra).
Desyatnikov has been collaborating with Gidon Kremer since 1996 as a composer (Wie der Alte Leiermann...; the chamber version of Sketches to Sunset; Russian Seasons) as well as arranging the works of Astor Piazzolla, including the tango-operita MarÃÂa de Buenos Aires and the tango suite Cuatro estaciones porteñas. Desyatnikov wrote the scores for the films Sunset (1990), Lost in Siberia (1991), Hammer and Sickle (1994), Moscow Nights (Katya Izmailova) (1994), GiselleâÂÂs Mania (1995), Prisoner of the Mountains (1996), All That Is Tender (1996), Moscow (2000), His WifeâÂÂs Diary (2000) and The Target (2010), "Trompe-loeil" for piano four hands, Aldeburgh (2023, June), "Reflections on the Folk Song" for 19 strings and viola obbligata, Stockholm (2024, August), "Saint Petersburg, Florida", barcarola for two pianos, Padova (2024, September).
Leonid Desyatnikov left St. Petersburg in March 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the present time, he lives in Haifa, Israel.
Desyatnikov was awarded a Golden Ram prize and the Grand Prix of the IV International Cinema Music festival in Bonn for his score for Moscow and the special prize of the Window to Europe Cinema Festival in Vyborg. In 2006 the opera The Children of Rosenthal received the special jury prize of The Golden Mask National Theatre Award. In 2003 Desyatnikov was awarded the State Prize of Russia.
Desyatnikov is the author of four operas, the symphony The Rite of Winter 1949, vocal cycles to the poems of Rilke and the OBERIU poets, and several instrumental transcriptions of themes by ÃÂstor Piazzolla. The style of his music is defined by the composer himself as "an emancipation of consonance, transformation of banality and 'minimalism' with a human face". His favourite genre is "a tragically naughty bagatelle".