(b. 1959, Saint Petersburg).
Russian composer of mostly stage, orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, and piano works that have been performed in Europe and elsewhere; he is also active as a pianist.
Mr. Mikita studied composition with Boris Tishchenko and piano with Natan Perelman at the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in Saint Petersburg in 1977–78. He then studied composition with Tikhon Khrennikov and Alexander Tchaikovsky and piano with Yevgeny Malinin and Stanislav Neuhaus at the P. I. Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow from 1978–84, where he later studied as an assistant to Yevgeny Malinin from 1986–89.
Among his honours is First Prize in the competition Choral Spiritual Music in Moscow (2003, for Bogoroditse Devo, raduysya... – Virgin Mother of God, Rejoice). His music has been performed in Armenia, France, Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine.
As a pianist, he has performed the music of Alexander Scriabin, as well as classical and contemporary music, including his own works. In addition, he has played with Alexander Mekayev as the Moscow Piano Duo since 1993.
He has taught composition at the Gnessin State Musical College in Moscow since 2001.
In addition to the works listed below, Mr. Mikita has written more than 40 choral works for the Russian Orthodox Church.
SELECT LIST OF WORKS
STAGE:
Wild Angel (incidental music, play by Nikolay Kolomiets), 1982
The Ugly Duckling (ballet in 2 acts, scenario by Nikolay Lebedev, after Hans Christian Andersen), 1983 (collaboration with Olga Petrova, Irina Tseslyukevich)
Marriage (ballet in 2 acts, scenario by Alexander Polubentsev, after Nikolai Gogol), 1993
A Hero of Our Time (incidental music, play by Mikhail Lermontov), 2001
Prince I. (incidental music, play by Asiya Durgaryan, after William Shakespeare, Ilya Tyurin), 2003
ORCHESTRAL:
Safari (suite), 1986 (version of work for piano)
Symphony, 1989
Polden – Midday (symphonic poem), large orchestra (61 players), 1990
Skazka – Fairy Tale, 1993
Concerto on Themes of Grieg for Piano and Orchestra, piano, orchestra, 1997
The Franco–Prussian War (symphonic poem), orchestra (60 players), 2002
CHAMBER MUSIC:
String Quartet No. 1, 'Bachiana', 1976
String Quartet No. 2, 1978
Five Moods of Flute and Cello, flute, cello, 1978
Expectation, cello, piano, 1979
String Quartet No. 3, 1979
Sonata for Viola and Piano, viola, piano, 1984
String Quartet No. 4, 1984
Sonata in A, violin, 1987
Red Gates (7 sketches and postlude), flute, violin, viola, cello, piano (+ harpsichord), 1989
Elegy to the Memory of Shostakovich, violin, piano, 1989
Presushchestvlenie – Sonata of the Holy Communion, cello, piano, 1994
The Himalayas, flute, 1994
Steppe, flute, domra (plucked instrument from Russia), piano, 1995
CHORAL:
Slavyanskaya dusha – Slavonic Soul (concerto, text by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy), mixed chorus, 1986
Two Poems of Sergey Mikhalkov (text by Sergey Mikhalkov), children's chorus, 1988
Velikaya vechernya – The Great Vesper (text from the vespers of the Russian Orthodox Church), mixed chorus, 1991
Liturgiya Krasoty – Liturgy of Beauty (cantata, text by Konstantin Balmont), tenor, bass, mixed chorus, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, piano, 1993
Bogorodichnye pesnopeniya – Hymns to the Virgin (spiritual concerto, text from prayers of the Russian Orthodox Church), mixed chorus, 1996
Initium Caritatis (texts from the Book of Genesis, the Song of Solomon), mixed chorus, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1997
Jesum autem flagellatum... (text from the Book of Matthew), mixed chorus, organ, 1997
Three Folksongs on Texts of Alexander Pushkin (text by Alexander Pushkin), folk voice from Russia, mixed chorus, guitar, 1999
Tiramisù (text by Noira Volpi), mixed chorus, 1999
Drugu vo Khriste – To a Friend of Christ (text by John Shakhovskoy), mixed chorus, 2000
Bogoroditse Devo, raduysya... (texts from religious songs from Ancient Greece, Russia), female chorus, male chorus, 2002
VOCAL:
Nate! – Take it! (text by Vladimir Mayakovsky), bass, piano, 1977
Dalyoky chertog – The Celestial Palace (text by Alexander Blok), bass, piano, 1981
Fragments d'enfance (text by Arthur Rimbaud), soprano, prepared piano, 1996
On i ya – He and I (text by Innokenty Annensky), soprano, piano, 1997
O Slezakh – On Tears (texts by St. Isaac of Nineveh, Fyodor Yenatsky, Avva Longin [all Russian translations]), soprano, domra, cello, piano, 1999
Three Musics on Texts of Valentin Fyodorov (text by Valentin Fyodorov), soprano, piano, 2000
PIANO:
Allegro ostinato, 1978
Sonata for Two Pianos, 2 pianos, 1978
Solnovert: Obrazy drevney Rusi – Images of Ancient Russia, 1982, revised 2002
Album in C, 1983
Safari (suite), 1985 (also version for orchestra)
Sonatina, 1986
Herzog Bluebeard (suite), 1986
Variations on a Jazz Theme, 1987
Dom – Images of My Homeland, 2 pianos, 1992
Impossibility (poem), 1993
Dedicated to Rachmaninoff, 2 pianos, 1994
Loss and Consolation, 2 pianos, 1996
ELECTROACOUSTIC:
The Wolf and the Seven Kids, fixed media, 2003