Daniil Kramer is a Soviet and Russian jazz pianist, pedagogue, composer and producer. He was born on 21 March 1960 in Kharkiv, into the family of a teacher and a doctor. His parents enrolled him in the Kharkiv Secondary Specialized Music School, where he studied piano with Elena Iolis.
At the Republican Competition in Kharkiv, the fifteen-year-old Kramer won first prize as a performer and second prize as a composer. He then continued his education at the Gnessin Academy in Moscow as a pianist of the academic tradition, studying with Professor Evgeny Liberman. At the same time, he became seriously involved in jazz, and in 1982 won first prize at the competition of jazz piano improvisers in Vilnius, Lithuania.
In 1983 he graduated from the Gnessin Academy. In 1985–1986 he was a soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic and also a soloist of Mosconcert. He took part in jazz festivals and toured widely. From 2003 he became artistic director of the Jazz Spring festival in Samara, held every two years. He was also an honorary member of the Sydney Professional Musicians’ Club.
Kramer later taught at the Gnessin Academy. From 1986 he taught jazz piano and the basics of improvisation at Stasov Children’s Music School No. 36. He is the author of methodological works, collections of pieces, arrangements and jazz adaptations. In 1997 Channel ORT broadcast a series of his jazz lessons, and the videocassette Lessons of Jazz with Daniil Kramer was released under the general title Contemporary Jazz of Russia. He also became head of the Department of Variety Orchestra Instruments at the Institute of Contemporary Art and a professor.
He has been associated with numerous jazz festivals and projects in Russia and abroad, and served as art director of Russian jazz festivals in Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Perm, Surgut, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Suzdal, Ufa and Saratov. He was chairman of the jury of the First International Competition of Jazz Pianists, opened in March 2005 together with Pavel Slobodkin. His recordings include Vermont Wanderer with Steve Blayer (1995), Imagine with the Glinka Quartet (1999), Hi, Pite! with Alexander Fischer (2001), Jazz Games (2003, 2009), and a 2004 recording with Evgeny Shestakov and the Omsk Academic Symphony Orchestra.
Among his honors are the title Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1997), People’s Artist of Russia (2012), the Gustav Mahler European Prize (2000), and full membership in the Russian Academy of Arts (2014). After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he took an active anti-Ukrainian position.
Connections
This figure has 1 connection in the Music Lineage catalog.