Стас Намин

Stas Namin is a Russian rock musician and cult figure. He is one of the founders of Russian rock music, the creator and leader of the legendary 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 organized the country's first pop and rock festivals, including the 1989 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. In the 2000s decade Namin has devoted himself mainly to personal creative projects. Namin is both stage director and producer at the theater he created in 1999, whose first productions were the legendary American musical Hair and the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, both in continuous performance for eighteen years. One of his theater's latest productions, a 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.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. As a sitarist, he's performed in Vrindavan, India, and recorded the triple album Meditation and the composition Fusion raga dedicated to George Harrison. As a film director and producer, 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 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. As a photographer, Namin has been long recognized in Russia and beyond its borders. The State Russian Museum published his first album of photographs in 2001 as well as his recently completed fifteen-year photo project The Magic of Venus devoted to the phenomenon of childbirth. Namin has been painting and drawing professionally for more than fifteen years, exhibiting his works in various museums and galleries in Russia. In recent years he's created the portrait series Inside Out and series of works devoted to Italy, Armenia and Jerusalem. In 2014 Namin became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Fine Arts. In 2016 the Academy presented his solo exhibition Inside Out in honor of his 65th birthday.