Musical Life: “Melodiya Company” presents a new album by Alexander Nikolaychuk.

Published on: 2026-11-06

Source: Melody – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

“Melodiya Company” presents a new album by Alexander Nikolaychuk – a balalaika player, laureate of all-Russian and international competitions, soloist of the National Academic Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments named after N. P. Osipov. This time, the musician turned to Sergey Vasilenko’s Concerto for Balalaika with Symphony Orchestra – one of the landmark works in the history of the instrument, which is now rarely performed on stage. The recording was made during the opening of the I All-Russian Festival “Balalaika of the 21st Century”, one of the organizers of which was Nikolaychuk himself. Originally, the musician did not plan to release an album, but after listening to the recording, he decided to present it to listeners as a separate release. About the choice of the work, the value of the concert recording, and why it is not easy for the balalaika to step beyond the usual perceptions of a folk instrument, Alexander Nikolaychuk (AN) spoke with Diana Mkrtchyan (DM).”

DM Alexander, you started playing music at the age of seven. Why did the balalaika attract you out of all the variety of instruments?

AN Largely thanks to my grandfather. My paternal roots are connected to Buryatia. In my childhood, we often went there for holidays. My grandfather played the trumpet, chanzy, and balalaika, and also loved organizing home performances: we would put on kosovorotkas and hats, and play wooden spoons. I really wanted to be like him, so when it was time to enroll in music school, I chose the balalaika.

DM Your musical journey began in Irkutsk and then continued in Moscow at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, where you studied under Andrey Gorbachev. What proved to be the most important for you during the formative years as a musician?

AN First of all, the people I was fortunate enough to meet. After ninth grade, I considered enrolling in Saint Petersburg or Krasnoyarsk, but I was only fourteen, and my parents did not dare to let me go so far. As a result, I stayed in Irkutsk and continued studying with my music school teacher – Anastasia Yuryevna Glukman. She even came to teach at the college just for me, where I became her only student. A great influence on me was also the accompanist Andrey Anatolyevich Shchagin. Communicating with the pianist greatly expanded my musical horizons. We, balalaika players, initially live in the world of “Kalinka” and “Kamarinskaya,” and thanks to him I got acquainted with Baroque, the works of Beethoven and Mozart. Later, already at the Gnessin Academy, pianist Tatyana Petrovna Khaninova taught us. She paid great attention to our musical thinking: for example, she could suggest writing an original composition and then analyze it quite strictly. And, of course, Andrey Alexandrovich Gorbachev played a special role in my development.

DM In the new album by “Melodiya” you present the Concerto for Balalaika with Symphony Orchestra by Sergey Vasilenko, written almost a hundred years ago. Why did you choose this particular piece?

AN We will have to start a little from afar here. Around 2023, Alexey Vrodlivets and I came up with the festival “Balalaika of the 21st Century,” dedicated to academic performance on this instrument. We applied for a grant, received support, and were able to realize the idea. To open the festival in the Svetlanov Hall of the House of Music, we prepared a program of three compositions with orchestra. We decided to start with Vasilenko’s concerto, as it is one of the first major compositions of this kind, occupying a special place in the history of the balalaika. It would seem that such a significant work should be regularly performed on stage, but today it is practically not performed. Therefore, we considered it our duty to present it again to the public.