Anastas Alekseevich Mikoyan (born November 8, 1951, known professionally as Stas Namin) is a rock musician known as the leader of the popular Soviet music group Tsvety. He is also a composer, actor, record producer, and director, and lends his name to the theatre he created in Moscow, the Stas Namin Music and Drama Theatre (Театр музыки и драмы Стаса Намина, also known simply as Stas Namin Theatre).

Background

Early years

Stas Namin was born on 8 November 1951 in Moscow. He is the grandson of Soviet politician of Armenian heritage Anastas Mikoyan. He spent his early childhood years with his parents on military bases, as his father Aleksey was an air force pilot, a veteran of World War II. His mother was a music historian and writer, and Dmitry Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian, Mstislav Rostropovich, Alfred Schnittke and other celebrated musicians were all guests in the family's house. Namin's first music teacher was the composer Arno Babajanian. Namin began school at age six. Four years later he entered the Suvorov Military School in Moscow, where he would receive seven years of military education.

1960s

While studying in the Suvorov School, Namin first hears The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and becomes involved with rock music.

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Career

Music

He is one of the founders of Russian rock music, the creator and leader of the band the Flowers, which has sold more than 60 million records on the territory of the USSR and Eastern Bloc countries over its half-century of existence, and the author of many popular songs including "Summer Evening", "Nostalgia for the Present" and "We Wish You Happiness!" Namin organized the country's first independent production company (SNC), from which many Russian stars emerged, among them the rock band Gorky Park, which Namin created. He organised in 1988 the first standing concert in Moscow with the Scottish band BIG COUNTRY. He organised the country's first pop and rock festivals, including the 1989 Moscow Music Peace Festival at Luzhniki Stadium with world-class headliners, the One World and Rock from the Kremlin festivals and others; the founder of the country's first private enterprises (record labels, radio stations, TV networks, concert agencies, design studios and others), which broke the state monopoly and gave rise to the modern Russian show business; and the founder of Russia's first non-governmental symphony orchestra, the country's first Western-style musical theatre and other groups. With his group The Flowers he recorded and released two audio albums at Abbey Road Studios, Back to the USSR and Open the Window to Freedom, as well as three concert DVDs — The Flowers are 40, Homo Sapiens and Flower Power. Among Namin's new songs are the compositions "Light and Joy", an anthem for the unity of mankind, the song "Window to Freedom", performed together with Russian rock stars as a message for our time, "Feast in a Time of Plague", about the war in Ukraine, and world-acclaimed remakes of "Another Brick in the Wall" and "Give Peace a Chance". As a symphony composer Namin has released a concert version of his well-known suite Autumn in Petersburg. In 2016 a piano version was also created and recorded in Germany. In 2016 he also wrote and recorded his new symphony Centuria S – Quark with the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2017 People's Artist of Russia Mikhail Pletnev led the Russian National Orchestra in his own version of Namin's symphony in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. In ethnic music, Namin recorded his double album One World Music Freedom together with guest artists from India, Armenia, Israel, Palestine, Great Britain, Africa and other lands. He performed sitar music in Vrindavan, India, and recorded the triple album Meditation and the composition Fusion raga dedicated to George Harrison.

Theatre

Namin is both stage director and producer at the theatre he created, the Stas Namin Music and Drama Theatre (Театр музыки и драмы Стаса Намина, also known simply as Stas Namin Theatre), in 1999-2000, whose first productions were the legendary American musical Hair and the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, both of which remain part of the theatre's repertoire. His reconstruction of the 1913 avant-garde opera Victory Over the Sun, played in 2015 at three major international venues: the leading contemporary art expo Art Basel; the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art; and the annual FIAC art fair in Paris, receiving high praise from critics and art historians.

Film

Namin has created a series of documentary films, including an interview with Ernst Neizvestny, Magical India, The Ancient Churches of Armenia, with the participation of Catholicos Karekin II, and the Russian-American joint productions The Real Cuba and Free to Rock. Namin was co-author and co-produced of the latter film, which was shown at the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Seattle and the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. The film's world television premiere took place on the American PBS network.

Photography

The State Russian Museum published his first album of photographs in 2001 a 15-year photo project The Magic of Venus devoted to the phenomenon of childbirth.

Art

Namin has been painting and drawing professionally for many years, exhibiting his works in various museums and galleries in Russia. He created the portrait series Inside Out and a series of works devoted to Italy, Armenia and Jerusalem. In 2014 Namin became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Fine Arts.

Recognition

In 2016 the Academy presented his solo exhibition Inside Out in honour of his 65th birthday.

Interviews

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