Vladimir comes from the marginal Russian city of Vyatka, which recently featured in British newspapers due to the unceasing Russian habit of renaming the settlements. Always ashamed of his low origins, he has tried all his life to get as far away from there as possible – his driving force so far. Thus, after he got his College degree as a pianist, he entered the Conservatoire in Nizhny Novgorod (the birthplace of the Russian nuclear bomb), where he obtained his degree in organ and musicology in 2003. He received several fellowships on organ master-courses (including Goettingen, Germany). However, he chose musicology as his main occupation and pursued his doctoral studies in the State Institute of Arts Studies (Moscow). This was interrupted by the award of a Fulbright Fellowship (first place among all Russian participants), which took him to the John W Kluge Centre, Library of Congress in Washington DC (2005). In 2006 he became a doctoral student and a Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, writing a dissertation entitled “Soviet Cantatas and Oratorios by Prokofiev in Their Social and Cultural Context” under the supervision of Dr Marina Frolova-Walker.

His research interests encompass various aspects of Russian music and culture but are mostly centered on Soviet Music and the Russian Silver Age. His curriculum vitae includes numerous awards and prizes in musicological competitions, research publications, public talks, extensive archival research in the US, Russia and England, long record of teaching music, and work in the media (newspapers, magazines and television). As a former President and current Trustee of the CU Russian Society, he organised significant number of concerts and cultural events. (See: www.russiancambridge.org).

His employment history includes work at the main Russian musical Archive (State Central Glinka Museum of Music Culture) in 2004 – 2005; Chair of International Department & Assistant in the Department of Music History in Nizhny Novgorod State Glinka Conservatoire (1999 – 2003).