Nikolai Kapustin was a Ukrainian composer who was born in Gorlovka in 1937. Since 1980, Kapustin has been a member the USSR Composer’s Union. In 1961, he graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire’s class of Prof. A. Goldenweiser. He earned a great reputation in the 1950’s as a jazz arranger, pianist and composer. He made many appearances with his quintet and the Yuri Saulsky Central Artists Club Big Band in Moscow. He toured the Soviet Union, aboard with Oleg Lundstrem’s Jazz Orchestra from 1961 to 1972. His compositional style combines West European classical and post-classical music with modern jazz and rock idioms. In his early days, he was primarily interested in the genre of instrumental concerto. He composed three concertos for the piano.
