Gennadiy Gladkov

Gennadiy Gladkov is a Soviet and Russian composer, author of music for popular films and TV series, cartoons and musicals. Gladkov was born into a family of musicians, his father - Igor Gladkov - accordionist, soloist of the Aleksandr Tsfasman Orchestra. Maternal grandfather, Stepan Maksakov, accompanied Lidiya Ruslanova on the harmonica. Since childhood, Aleksandr loved jazz and folk music. He started learning music early. He studied at the Merzlyakovskiy school-college at the conservatory and entered the Central Music School. He graduated from a chemical polytechnic school, after which he worked for a year as a shift supervisor at a factory, but decided to return to music. In 1959 Gladkov graduated from the theoretical department of the Music School at the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied composing under the direction of Grigori Frid. In 1964 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory (composition class of Vladimir Fere), in 1966 - graduate school. During his studies and until 1971, he was engaged in teaching: from 1963 he was a teacher at the Moscow Choir School, and from 1966 he taught orchestration at the Gnessin Musical Pedagogical Institute. Gennadiy Gladkov largely owes his entry into cinema to his childhood friend, Vasiliy Livanov. It was he who attracted Gladkov to work on his first animated film The Most, the Most, the Most (1966). Gennadiy Gladkov gained fame from his work on the musical cartoon The Bremen Town Musicians (1969) and its sequel In the Wake of the Bremen Town Musicians (1973).