Daniil Kramer is a people's Artist of Russia, a well-known Russian jazz pianist, producer, teacher, student of the legendary Soviet teacher Ievgenii Liberman and winner of the jazz improvisation competition in Vilnius. He plays both Mozart and traditional American blues with equal fluency. The classical performing and composing school makes Kramer's sound deep, perfect in every moment, his mastery of the instrument is brought almost to the absolute.
Daniil Kramer did many things for the first time in Russia: opened a jazz improvisation class in the Moscow Conservatory, created a system of philharmonic jazz season tickets, brought blues onto the academic stage as a serious concert genre, he showed the possibilities of a concert combination of jazz with classical ballet, body art and high fashion in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Jazz Collection festival. And, finally, he was the first Russian jazzman to create his own analytical television show True Role on the OTR TV channel.
Dmitry Kuptsov is one of the biggest players in the jazz-manouche scene in Russia, Kuptsov has been working on this unique direction for more than 15 years. Since then he has been delving into this music style and its nuances with all the meticulousness and precision anybody can imagine. Today Dmitry represents the Russian view on gypsy jazz with all its brightness.
Kuptsov is well known abroad where he performs in France, Italy, Germany, Sweden and other European countries, where jazz-manouche has an appreciative audience.
He participates in various big music festivals, including the oldest Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois-sur-Seine (France). In Russia Dmitry Kuptsov has launched various international festivals such as Tsaritsyno. Gypsy Jazz and Gypsysphera.
Dmitry Kuptsov founded an instrumental quartet, which consists of two guitarists, a clarinettist and a double bassist.
Polina Kasianova is a talented Moscow singer. She is the owner of a bright voice and charm, completely immerses the listener into the atmosphere of the composition. Her artistic manner of performance easily allows her to work with various genres.
Before devoting herself to singing, Polina graduated from a jazz college as a piano player and received a degree in directing from the Institute of Television and Radio Broadcasting. Collaboration with musicians of different directions, such as blues, rock, hip-hop, funk, avant-garde jazz, neo-soul helped her form her vocal style. The singer's repertoire includes songs from various decades of the 20th century as well as some author's compositions.
Music lovers know Polina for the projects Jazz Transformations and Yiddish Jazz by Andrei Makarevich, for collaboration with jazz-manouche guitarist Dmitry Kuptsov, for work with the leader of the Moscow Ragtime Band Konstantin Gevondian.
Polina has performed at Palace Square in St. Petersburg and Trafalgar Square in London, at the Moscow International House of Music and the Town Hall stage in New York.
In 2012, Polina starred in The Stories (film by Mikhail Segal).
Igor Ivanushkin graduated from the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music. He became famous in 1993-1998, performing in the quintet Igor Bril and the New Generation.
Igor is a permanent member of many ensembles, including the group of Arkadii Shilkloper, the trio of Frederic Belinskii, the trio of Oleg Butman, the ensemble of the singer-songwriter Sergei Nikitin.
He is a laureate of international competitions, including the Laureate of the 8th World Festival of Youth and Students (Pyongyang, 1989), the Grand Prix of the international competition Young Jazz Musicians of the World (Bucharest, 1997), the competition of European jazz musicians (Brussels, 1998), the winner of the First All-Russian competition Young Jazz Musicians (Rostov on Don, 1991). Participant in many international and Russian jazz festivals.