Students of 16 International Young Composers Academy in Tchaikovsky-city

Students – composers:

Nikolas Agrafiotis (Greece) is a composer and Ulysses-supported artist currently pursuing postgraduate studies (Meisterklasse) in Composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig with Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf. He previously completed his Master’s degree there with Mahnkopf and Fabien Lévy and earned his Bachelor’s degree at the Conservatorium Maastricht with Vykintas Baltakas. His music has been performed by leading orchestras and ensembles including the MDR-Sinfonieorchester, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra, IEMA Ensemble, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Ascolta, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, and Philharmonie Zuidnederland. Recent distinctions include winning the Ningde Composition Competition (2025), the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik Call for Scores (2026), and the David Moliner Call for Scores (2026). His orchestral and chamber works have been broadcast by WDR and MDR Klassik. He has participated in numerous international masterclasses and festivals, working with composers such as Peter Eötvös, Mark Andre, Frank Bedrossian, and Jukka Tiensuu.

Luis Miguel Delgado Grande (Colombia) is a composer, violinist, and artistic researcher based in Pittsburgh, where he is a Ph.D. candidate in Composition and Music Theory at the University of Pittsburgh and a 2025 Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Fellow. His acoustic and electroacoustic music engages memory, encounter, and shared time as compositional concerns, drawing on the textures of urban life, collective experience, and social urgency. A recipient of the 2025 Young Composers Award from the Bank of the Republic of Colombia, he has written on commission for Cepromusic, Barcelona Modern Ensemble, Unheard-of//Ensemble, ensemble .abeceda, Sigma Project, SydeBoob Duo, among others. His music has been performed by JACK Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Quatuor Diotima, and Nois Quartet, and at the reMusik Festival in Saint Petersburg, with residencies at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. His scores are published by Babel Scores, Paris.

Milica Modra (Serbia) is a composer who studied composition in Prague and Stockholm. Her pieces “Lie” and “disintegrating marble” are both part of CD selections by Czech Muisc Information Centre and EnsembleSpectrum. Her music has reached international recognition with performances in Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Israel, Tatarstan and Serbia by ensembles Norrbotten Neo, EnsembleSpectrum, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Terrible; and in Reading Lesson with Klangforum Wien members, as part of Prague Spring festival. In her work she creates different perceptions, states and processes which can often collide, contradict or influence each other. Music is a place for inquiry, exploration and constant discovery. Currently she’s enrolled in the Bachelors programme in Audio Engineering at SAE Institute Belgrade.

Parker Callister (USA)  is a composer, music technologist, and guitarist from Ithaca, NY. His music draws influence from electronic and noise music while also operating in a contemporary music idiom. Compositional interests include close-mic amplification, creating machines within ensembles, and the tactility of sound. With degrees in composition from the Eastman School of Music, Ithaca College, and the Peabody Institute, Parker’s primary mentors have included Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Evis Sammoutis, and Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez. He has received commissions from the Baltimore Integrated Arts Society, line upon line percussion, OSSIA New Music, Music Educators of Lansing, NY, and others. Around the United States and Europe, his work has been featured at several festivals and workshops, including the Mizzou International Composer Festival, the Penn State New Music Festival, the Taproot New Music Festival, Creative Dialogues XIII, line upon line’s Winter Composers’ Festival, the Rochester Fringe Festival, the Valencia International Performing Arts Festival, and many others. In May of 2024, he received his PhD in Music Composition from the Eastman School of Music. Currently, he teaches as a lecturer in the Music Department at SUNY Oneonta.

Vyacheslav Morgunov (Obninsk, Russia) was born in 2000. He is a laureate of national and international guitar performance competitions (2017–2022). In 2022, he graduated from the Gnesin Academy of Music’s College of Pop and Jazz Arts, where he studied guitar with Garin and Kuteinikov. That same year, he entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he studies composition with Professor Yuri Vorontsov. Since 2023, Morgunov has performed as a guest musician with leading Russian symphony orchestras, including the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, and the Mikhailovsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, performing on banjo, slide guitar, and electric guitar. In 2024, he won the international “Time of Guitar” composition competition; his toccata “Continuum” was subsequently selected as a required work for performers in the same competition. Since 2024, his main professional focus has been orchestration and arranging.

Alexandra Nesnova (Ivanteyevka, Russia) was born in 2004 in Ivanteyevka, Moscow Region, into a family of artists. She began studying music at the age of six, composing her first pieces around the same time. After graduating from music school as a violinist, she began studying composition with Professor T. Chudova in 2019. In 2024, she graduated from the Moscow Conservatory’s Academic Music College with a degree in Music Theory. She is currently a second-year composition student at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, studying with O. Bochikhina. In 2025, Nesnova participated in the “Auditum” sound design creative laboratory at the Gnesin Academy of Music, and in 2026 took part in a field recording laboratory there. She has also participated in a creative laboratory with film and theatre directors who graduated from V. Ryzhakov’s course at the Moscow Art Theatre School. She is a participant in the Composers’ Union of Russia’s educational projects “Composers’ Reading Sessions” and “The Voice as an Instrument”.

Daniel Satanovski (Germany)  is a composer and conductor, born in Darmstadt in 2002. He is studying both Bachelor of Arts in Composition at the HfMDK Frankfurt with Prof. Orm Finnendahl, Prof. Ulrich Kreppein and Elnaz Seyedi and Orchestra Conducting at the HMTM in Munich. His works have been performed by numerous ensembles such as the IEMA, the Trio Radial, the Meitar Ensemble, the Studio for New Music ensemble and others. He has participated in the Darmstadt Summer Courses 2025 and was a scholarship holder at the artist residency Schloss Wiepersdorf. Additional compositional impulses followed from Simon Steen-Andersen, Steven Takasugi, Malin Bang, and others.

Anna Serova (Moscow, Russia) studied piano in the Republican Music College in Izhevsk. She is currently a student at the Moscow Conservatory, studying with Associate Professor К. Bodrov. She has participated in the Composer-Dramatist 4’33” laboratory led by Alexander Manotskov. She has collaborated with the string quartet and orchestra of the Udmurtia State Philharmonic, the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, N’Caged, Studio for New Music, Immensa Musica, and Ad Parnassum. She was a scholarship recipient of the 13th International Academy for Young Composers in Tchaikovsky and has participated in the “Voice as an Instrument” composition workshop at the “Before and After” festival and the “Sofia’s Sounding House” laboratory in Kazan. In 2025, she took part in ArtMasters Regions in the Theatre Composer category. Сomposed music for Boris Yukhananov’s IWorkshop at the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre, and participated in the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble’s Kant Residence.

Giulio Soldo (Italy) is a composer, cellist, guitarist and multidisciplinary artist working across contemporary music, performance and film. His practice combines  focus on instrumental writing with interests in literary structures, visual thinking and experimental narrative. Participant of many international masterclasses and festivals with Yannis Kyriakides, Simon Steen-Andersen, Lisa Streich, Fabién Levy, Lucas Fels, Daniel Kientzy, Alastair White, David Moliner. His works have been performed at Bled Contemporary Music Week, Sansusī Festival, Barcelona Modern, Divertimento Ensemble season and by Athens State Orchestra and Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra and in 2027 his piece will be performed at Berlin Philharmonie and published by Universal Edition. Received Honorable Mention at the Achrome Competition 2024 and  was a finalist at the Dimitri Mitropoulos Competition 2025. Current moment —  will study composition at ZHdK with Isabel Mundry.

Yuncong Cai (China) — born in 2003 in Weihai, China, is a composer currently studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with Prof. Shuya Xu. He previously studied at the Affiliated Middle School of Tianjin Conservatory of Music. His awards include First Prize at the AIMA International Composition Competition (USA), First Prize at the Franco Margola International Composition Competition, and the Special Prize at the Ise-Shima International Composition Competition (Japan). In 2025, he participated in the masterclass of the Shanghai International Contemporary Music Festival, working with Marco Stroppa and Ying Wang. His music focuses on the relationships and transformations between musical materials through time, often combining subtle sonic gestures, extended techniques, and evolving structural processes.

Artem Tsios (Belarus/Russia) was born in Brest in 1999. He graduated from the Grodno State Music College, where he studied musicology from 2015 to 2019. From 2019 to 2021, he studied composition at the Belarusian State Academy of Music in the class of Professor Gorelova. Since 2022, he has continued his composition studies at the Moscow Conservatory with Associate Professor Olga Bochikhina. Tsios is a laureate of composition competitions and has participated in a variety of artistic and educational projects, including the Composers’ Academy of the Winter International Arts Festival in Sochi (2022–2024), the 14th International Academy for Young Composers in Tchaikovsky, Russian Music 2.0, and Boris Yukhananov’s Workshop (MIR-7), “Kafka in Athens” (2025).

Kristina Yanova (Moscow, Russia) — composer and pianist, graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory, member of Russian Union of Composers. Has participated in events such as “Composer’s laboratory Kurchatov lab” (2025-2026, Chelyabinsk), Workshop by B. Yukhananov “Kafka in Athens” (2025), “Composer’s reading sessions: choir” (2023) and others. An Award nominee “Moscow Art Theatre” 2026, the resident of Peredelkino Creative Center (in joint residence with Russian Union of Composers “Lectures on Russian literature” (2024). Chamber and vocal music is a major area of creative interest, as is the study of the physical impact of sound on the human body and the characteristics of auditory perception.

Trainees – composers:

Dmitry Lyagin (St. Petersburg, Russia) is a third-year student at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He has participated in and received diplomas at national competitions, as well as in compositional improvisation projects as a vocalist at the St. Petersburg Composers’ House and the Sergey Kuryokhin Center for Contemporary Art. His music has been performed at the Sheremetev Palace, the St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technology and Design, the Hermitage Museum, the St. Petersburg Conservatory, the Yaaani Kirik Concert Hall, and various venues in St. Petersburg and Petrozavodsk.

Sofia Filyanina (Ulyanovsk, Russia) was born in Ulyanovsk in 1998. She began her musical education as a guitarist before changing her specialization. She graduated from the Ulyanovsk Music College, studying Music Theory (2017) and Piano (2018), and went on to study composition at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, graduating in 2023. There, she studied with Tatyana Chudova, Alexey Syumak, and Andrei Mikita. A laureate of national and international competitions and a scholarship recipient of the Moscow Composers’ Union, Filyanina has composed music for films and video games since graduating from the Conservatory, including the film “Bird” (2024), directed by Bogdan Panko. She also studies classical Arabic music and performs on the Arabic oud.

Iliya Shahbazi (Iran) is a composer and live electronics performer. He began studying music at the age of 16 with guitar and started composing at 18. He continued his compositional studies under Kiawasch Sahebnassagh and pursued his path as an electronic music composer with Sohrab Motabar. Another part of his practice involves collaborating with artists from various disciplines as a sound designer through creative coding. He is currently a student at the School of Sonic Arts in Tehran and is further developing his compositional studies under the guidance of Arshia Samsaminia. His work was selected by the jury in the Reza Korourian Electroacoustic Composition Competition 2025. Other electronic and acoustic works of his have been performed at the 7th Tehran International Electronic Music Festival, the 3rd Edition of the Contemporary Music Magazine Festival & Levantar Voo Cycle 2026, and Évora_27 – European Capital of Culture (Portugal). In addition to his artistic activities in his main field, he has also been actively involved in other visual and interdisciplinary events. His most recent work is an interactive sound sculpture titled Sonic Retention, which was exhibited in a show entitled Second Breath at Rischee 29 Gallery in Tehran. This project was also selected as an outstanding work and was awarded a residency at the Deyhim Innovation Factory and Accelerator for the development of future projects.

Observers – composers:

Tamara Egorova (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) is a composer, musicologist, and lecturer in the Department of Composition and Instrumentation at the Nizhny Novgorod State Glinka Conservatory. In 2019, she graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Conservatory. In 2021, she completed her postgraduate assistantship at the Petrozavodsk State Glazunov Conservatory. In 2024, she defended her PhD dissertation, “Pēteris Vasks’ Creative Method: A Study of His Orchestral Works”. Egorova has participated in numerous educational and artistic projects, including the “Composers’ Reading Sessions” project (2021, 2022, 2024), the 3rd International Seminar for Young Composers in St. Petersburg (2022), the 8th M. K. Oginski Forum for Young Composers of Belarus and the CIS Countries in Maladzyechna, Belarus (2023), and “Synesthesia Lab” in Kazan (2024). Her work has also been presented at the “Pictures at an Exhibition” contemporary music festival in Nizhny Novgorod (2017, 2024), the 12th St. Petersburg International New Music Festival reMusik.org (2025), the “Five Evenings” festival in Moscow (2025), and the N’Caged ensemble’s “The Voice as an Instrument” workshop (2026). In 2026, she participated in the “Scores and Quotas” program. She received First Prize in the Musical Arts category at the 8th National Competition for Young Researchers in the Arts and Culture (2021).

Bogdan Kaluzhin (Surgut, Russia) is a composer and musician. He received his professional training as a bayan player at the Saratov Conservatory, while simultaneously studying in two departments; he did not complete his composition studies. He currently teaches guitar, directs the guitar orchestra he founded, and works as an accompanist for folk singing at one of Surgut’s children’s arts schools. He also works as a composer and performer of his own music at the Sterkh Gallery of Contemporary Art in Surgut. He participated in the “Composers’ Reading Sessions” project (2025). He is a laureate of several competitions, including Second Prize at the A. G. Schnittke National Competition for Young Composers (2012), Third Prize at the 3rd National Competition in Composition and Instrumentation for Folk Instrument Orchestra (2025), and a Special Laureate Diploma at the “Theory of Strings” festival-competition for “Minimalism in Art” (2024).

Dmitry Kuznetsov (St. Petersburg, Russia) was born in Kazan in 2003. In 2023, he graduated from the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Music College in St. Petersburg, where he studied piano. Since 2024, he has been studying composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class of Professor Alexander Radvilovich. He received Third Prize at the 9th National “Composer-Pianist” Competition-Festival (2025). He participated in the “BACH-340” project at the Museum of Music — Sheremetev Palace (2025). He is the composer of the music for the literary-musical work “From the Writer’s Repository” (“No rakstnieka krājumiem”), created by the Center for Russian Culture of the Daugavpils Municipality in Daugavpils, Latvia (2023). His piano piece “The Witch” was included in the educational and methodological book “Hands and Keys: Learning Together Is Fun” by L. Borukhzon and L. Korobeinikova, published by “Kompozitor” Publishing House, St. Petersburg in 2025.

Natalia Prilukova (Kirov, Russia) graduated from the I. V. Kazenin Kirov College of Musical Arts (2018–2022), where she studied Music Theory and Composition with S. Khusainov. She is currently a fourth-year student at the Composition and Musicology Faculty of the Nizhny Novgorod Conservatory, studying with M. Buloshnikov. She received a First-Degree Diploma at the National Olympiad for Students of Music Colleges in Music Theory and History (Nizhny Novgorod, 2022). She was awarded Third Prize at the 4th International Correspondence Competition for Student and Postgraduate Composers of Music Universities, Fructus Temporum (Astrakhan, 2023), and Third Prize at the 9th National Competition for the Best Organ Composition, held as part of the 23rd Moscow International Organ Festival (Moscow, 2023). She has participated in the Composers’ Union of Russia’s “Composers’ Reading Sessions: Choir” project (Moscow, 2023) and the “Composers’ Readings Sessions project” (Nizhny Novgorod, 2025).

Konstantin Stepanov (Krasnoyarsk, Russia) was born in Krasnoyarsk in 2000. He graduated from the P. I. Ivanov-Radkevich Krasnoyarsk College of Arts with a degree in Music Theory (2020) and from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied composition with A. Tanonov, Head of the Composition Department (2025). He is currently a postgraduate assistant at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Stepanov heads the Youth Section of the Composers’ Union of St. Petersburg and is a member of the MolOt International Guild of Young Musicians of the Russian Music Society. He has participated in and organized concerts and festivals in St. Petersburg, including the International Conservatory Week (2023), “Sound Ways” (2023–2024), and “Leningrad Musical Spring” (2024–2026). He has collaborated with the St. Petersburg MolOt Ensemble, the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (MASM), Esse Quintet, PinAkkolada Duo, and others. His works have been performed in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Pskov, Ivanovo, Novosibirsk, and Krasnoyarsk.

Saveliy Tyutin (St. Petersburg, Russia) was born in Bratsk. He studied saxophone and piano at Children’s Arts School No. 3. From 2021 to 2025, he studied saxophone at the Rimsky-Korsakov Special Music School at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with E. Kulagina. As a saxophonist, he is a laureate of national and international competitions, a scholarship recipient of the New Names Foundation, and a member of the “Game of Sax” saxophone quartet. Tyutin began composing in 2023. He made his debut at the “Symphony of Color” exhibition at the Mikhail Shemyakin Center. In 2024, he received Second Prize at the “Theory of Strings” Festival-Competition in Pushkin. In 2025, he won First Prize at the 19th International Competition in Music Theory, Music History and Composition named after Yuri Kholopov (Moscow) and First Prize at the 1st St. Petersburg Competition of Contemporary Music named after Boris Tishchenko. His works have been performed at the “Virtuosos of Flute & Northern Lyre” International Festival (St. Petersburg, 2026), the 1st National M. K. Shaposhnikova Festival of Saxophonists (Moscow, 2025), and the 2nd Laboratory of Contemporary Performance (Petrozavodsk, 2026). He is currently studying composition at the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg Conservatory with A. Zobnin.

Hu Chuhan (China) was born in April 2005. She began studying piano at the age of four under the guidance of her mother. In 2017, she entered the Middle School of the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, where she ranked first in the composition class. She also studied composition and harmony. She is currently studying composition at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with composer M. Anikeeva. Hu Chuhan is a laureate of several competitions, including Third Prize at the Russian “New Music” Composition Competition, and First Prize at the Borodin’s International Music Competition.

Students – Musicologists:

Arina Bryukhanova (Chaikovsky, Russia) is a student of Music Theory at the Chaikovsky Music College. She has been involved in music since childhood.

Arina has repeatedly organized and hosted musical and cultural events and is a laureate of interregional and national competitions.

Nina Vitkovskaya (Pskov, Russia) was born in Pskov, graduated from the Pskov Regional College of Arts named after N.A. Rimsky‑Korsakov. Lecturer, speaker at music festivals. Radio host, creator of the program “Classics for Everyone”. Full member of the Russian Musical Society. Organizer of projects related to academic music. Received a higher education in directing. Director of documentary films and animated productions (“By Hanseatic Routes”, “Pskov Tales”, “Sound”, and others). She is interested in creating art spaces and the author of the branded exhibition of the Pskov region. Currently, she works in the field of artificial intelligence as the chief editor of AI-trainers.

Nastia Volobueva (Ekaterinburg, Russia) is a curator and producer whose work moves between contemporary art and music. Since 2025, she has been part of the team behind the Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art and the ZA ART Center, alongside producing cultural, educational, and commercial event programs. Her work as an author and producer spans institutions including the Studio for New Music, the Potanin Foundation, the V–A–C Foundation and GES-2 House of Culture, as well as the “Russian Music 2.0” program and the almanac “Vremya Slyshat / Slyshat Vremya” (Time to Hear / Hearing Time).

Vasiliy Gorbunov (Saint Petersburg, Russia) is a musicologist, multimedia artist, and violinist based in St. Petersburg. A graduate of the Rimsky-Korsakov Music College (violin), he is currently a student at the Musicology Department of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory (research led by Dr. Denis Shutko). His professional interests focus on multimedia composition, live electronics, and developing interactive systems within music programming environments. In his work, explores the intersection of academic musical tradition and cutting-edge digital technologies.

Victoria Kozhevnikova (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) was born in Sovetsk, Kirov region. Graduated from Kazenin Kirov College of Musical Art (2020, speciality — “Music Theory”). From 2020 to 2025, she studied at the Nizhny Novgorod State Glinka Conservatory (the Department of Composition and Musicology, majoring in Musicology, Department of Music History, scientifics advisors — T. N. Levaya and M. L. Buloshnikov). Since 2025 — a first-year postgraduate student at the Nizhny Novgorod State Glinka Conservatory in the scientific specialty “Types of art (musical art)”, assistant in the Department of Philosophy and Aesthetics, a member of the Russian Composers’ Union. Author of scientific publications in the journals “The Art of Music. Theory and History”, “Scientific Bulletin of the Moscow Conservatory”, “Music in the System of Culture: Scientific Bulletin of the Ural Conservatory”, “Current Problems of Higher Music Education” and others. Participant in the 14th International Academy for Young Composers and Musicologists in Tchaikovsky (2024), the educational program of the International Diaghilev Festival of Arts (Perm, 2023), and the “Speech About Music” intensive for music journalists and bloggers (Moscow, 2023). Co-creator of the “Listening and Discussing” project.

Anatoly Malinkin (Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia) was born in Teykovo, Ivanovo Oblast, he graduated from a music school majoring in saxophone. He then studied at the Ivanovo College of Music. He is currently a third-year student in the Composition and Musicology Department of the Nizhny Novgorod Conservatory (Department of Music History, class of Professor Yu. S. Veksler). He has participated in all-Russian and international conferences held at the Nizhny Novgorod Conservatory, the Moscow Conservatory, and the State Institute of Art Studies. He has also taken part in the Ravel 2025 musicological translation competition (St. Petersburg, 2025) and the intellectual game “Listening and Discussing” (Nizhny Novgorod, 2025).

Vladimir Pechetov (Russia, Ekaterinburg) was born in Yakutsk (Russia). Vocalist, a graduate of the Sverdlovsk Music College named after Tchaikovsky in Ekaterinburg (2024). Artist and editor in Ural Opera Ballet Theatre, editor of theatre social media. Lecturer, creator of musical project “dialogi-dialogi” (“dialogues-dialogues”). Vocalist, member of improvisation ensemble “tsarapina” (“scratch”). Editor of archive project in scientific and critical journal about music “Music Academy” (2024, 2025). Member of the XV International Young Composers Academy in Tchaikovsky-city (2025). Editor of media «ПИЧ» based in Ekaterinburg.

Dmitry Tokarev (Krasnoyarsk, Russia) was born in Angarsk. He graduated from the Frédéric Chopin Irkutsk Music College, where he studied the bayan. He is currently a student at the Dmitri Hvorostovsky Siberian State Institute of Arts, majoring in Musicology. His research focuses on the works of the contemporary Argentine-French composer Oscar Strasnoy and the piano legacy of César Cui. He is the author of scholarly and popular articles, including publications in peer-reviewed journals recognized by the Higher Attestation Commission. He is a prizewinner of Russian national and international musicology competitions.

Angelina Samoilova (Moscow, Russia) was born in Sasovo, Ryazan Region. Graduated from the G. and A. Pirogov Ryazan Music College in 2022 (Music Theory Department). Currently a student of the Moscow State Conservatory (Faculty of Musicology and Composition, the class of R.A. Nasonov). She has been teaching music history courses at the G. P. Vishnevskaya College of Musical and Theatrical Arts since 2025. Laureate of All-Russian and International music theory competitions, participant in All-Russian academic conferences, recipient of a Presidential Grant. Author of musicological articles published in journals such as “Music Academy” and the almanac “Vremya Slyshat / Slyshat Vremya” (Time to Hear / Hearing Time).

Students – Improvisers:

Alina Yezhakova (Yekaterinburg, Russia) is a pianist and artistic director of InterText, an ensemble specializing in contemporary music. She graduated from the M. P. Mussorgsky Ural State Conservatory, where she studied under Professor and Honored Artist of Russia N. Ya. Atlas. She is a co-founder of the improvisation collective “tsarapina” and curates musical events. Yezhakova has participated in educational programs for performers organized by the Moscow Contemporary Music Society (MСME), the Center for Electroacoustic Music (CEAM), and the Studio for New Music at the Moscow Conservatory’s Center for Contemporary Music.

Katarina Kommer (St. Petersburg, Russia) was born in Kaluga, where she studied piano at a music school. She has lived in St. Petersburg since the age of 18. In 2019, she graduated from Herzen University with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy. She is currently a second-year student at a music and teacher-training college. Katarina performs in free improvisation concerts and takes part in projects exploring experimental music and contemporary art. She is also a member of the St. Petersburg Improvisation Orchestra.

Yuri Temnikov (Moscow, Russia) holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and has worked as a design engineer for more than 12 years, developing a wide range of devices and testing equipment. He has lived in Moscow since 2015. Yuri began making music at the age of 16. For many years, he played alternative rock in bands in Smolensk. His musical practice took a new direction at the age of 30, when he became interested in synthesizers and discovered the avant-garde and electroacoustic music. In December 2023, he joined the creative group Moscow Noise Manufactory. Since 2024, he has also performed solo under the artistic name “kenotron”, focusing primarily on drone ambient and noise ambient improvisation. From 2019 to 2025, he participated in the Soundartist, Improscheme, and Improcom improvisation laboratories.

Maria Shilina (Moscow, Russia) is an improvising musician and the creator of the project “quefear”. Her musical practice explores sound at the intersection of electroacoustic improvisation, sound art, ambient, drone, and noise. She works with analog, modular, and DIY synthesizers, contact microphones, water, springs, acoustic objects, and field recordings. She is a member of the Moscow Noise Manufactory and occasionally performs as part of the improvisation project “Snow Overhangs”. She has participated in the Improscheme laboratory organized by the Center for Electroacoustic Music (CEAM), the New Classics festival, and concerts of the independent experimental music scene. She has also created live soundtracks for films by Dziga Vertov, Lev Kuleshov, Sergei Eisenstein, and Evgeny Kondratyev.

Vera Esaulkova (Yekaterinburg, Russia) is a vocalist, lecturer, and curator. She is currently studying at the M. P. Mussorgsky Ural State Conservatory. She performs with the improvisation ensemble Tsarapina and is a co-creator of the musical project Dialogues-Dialogues. She participated in the 15th International Academy for Young Composers (Musicology), the 3rd Diaghilev Festival Laboratory led by Vitaly Polonsky, and the 8th Gnesin Contemporary Music Week festival as part of the “Nonexistent Music” laboratory.