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The Russian-born American composer, conductor, pianist, and organist Cyril Deaconoff (born Kirill Dyachkov), attended Gnesine State Music College and is a graduate of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Composition and Choral Conducting). In December 2006, he completed his Doctoral degree in Conducting at Indiana University Bloomington, where he also studied composition with Sven-David Sandström. His other composition and orchestration teachers included Marina Kovaleva, Andrei Golovin, Alexander Pirumov, Yuri Butsko, and Roman Ledeniov. Deaconoff’s choral composition Two choruses for children’s voices with Lyrics by Maikov received one of the prizes at the Pushkin Composition Contest in 1998 and was subsequently performed at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. A number of his works, including a choral ballade A Northern Tale, were also performed at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
Until recently (2012) Cyril Deaconoff was Artistic Director of the Vallejo Choral Society where he led performances of such masterpieces as J.S.Bach’s Johannes-Passion (BWV 245), Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria and Masterpieces of Russian Sacred Music. His repertoire includes a wide variety of styles, from Broadway and spirituals to Renaissance and Gregorian chant. He is currently Organist and Resident Composer at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in San Francisco and Assistant Conductor of the Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale in San Jose. He is also Artistic Director at American Canyon Singers.
An active choral/orchestral conductor, Dr. Deaconoff was one of only sixteen conductors chosen by Chorus America to participate in the 2006 Beethoven Conducting Master Class with the Philadelphia Singers and their Music Director David Hayes, and Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach. He taught at Carroll College, Wisconsin and Indiana University. Deaconoff’s recent conducting projects at Indiana University included a concert with the Contemporary Vocal Ensemble and orchestra entitled “American Tribute”, a performance of his new cantata, and a recording of his orchestral overture Symphonic Parallels. Several of his recent works, including cantata Canticles of Love, Despair, and Hope; A Northern Tale; and Symphonic Parallels have been recently published by E.C. Schirmer.
Cyril Deaconoff’s recent work, String Quartet No.1, was selected by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra for their concert of contemporary music entitled Valley Voices. A concert of Cyril’s chamber instrumental, vocal, and choral music took place in San Francisco on May 25, 2008. He received commissions from the Vallejo Choral Society and the Arts Council Silicon Valley. In November 2011 West Bay Opera in San Francisco Bay area presented a workshop performance of his new opera, The Last Tycoon.
In 2009 Cyril Deaconoff released his first album, “A Bridge of Hope”. |
