Leonid Desyatnikov was born in 1955 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. He is a graduate of the Leningrad Conservatory and a member of the Composers Union of St. Petersburg. Desyatnikov has written four operas, several cantatas and numerous vocal and instrumental compositions. His principal works include an opera The Children of Rosenthal (Vladimir Sorokin, libretto); ballets Lost Illusions and Opera, a chamber opera Poor Liza after Nikolay Karamzin; 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; Songs of Bukovina for piano.
Desyatnikov has been collaborating since 1996 with a star violin player Gidon Kremer (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 MarÃa de Buenos Aires and the tango suite Cuatro estaciones porteñas. Desyatnikov wrote music for the films Sunset (1990), Lost in Siberia (1991), Hammer and Sickle (1994), Moscow Nights (Katya Izmailova) (1994), Giselle’s Mania (1995), Prisoner of the Mountains (1996), Moscow (2000), His Wife’s Diary (2000) and The Target (2010).[1]
Desyatnikov was awarded a Golden Ram prize and the Grand Prix of the IV International Cinema Music Festival in Bonn for his music 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. In 2009-2010 he was a music director of the Bolshoi Theater.
Leonid Desyatnikov left St Petersburg in March 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the present time, he lives in Haifa, Israel.