A composer and interdisciplinary artist Elena Rykova explores a wide variety of genres in music and visual art. She brings together instruments and found objects, extending one through another and creating performative musical situations with a strong visual aspect. Her scores are characterized by an innovative use of nontraditional notation, having been exhibited in art museums in her native Russia and the USA. She has written chamber works, music theatre pieces and musical performances for major new music groups around the world. Her current interests lie in the research of micro-sound, spatial aspect of sound and individual sound particles, and virtual sonic spaces.

She is currently a PhD Candidate in Music Composition at Harvard University, where she currently works as a teaching assistant in acoustic and electroacoustic composition courses.

Rykova’s music was performed by: Nikel, Curious Chamber Players, Neopercusíon, Frames Percussion, Mosaik, Nemø, London Contemporary ensemble, UmeDuo, Down the Rabbit Hole, Calefax Reed Quintet, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, the Black Page Orchestra, Lunaire, Opera lab Berlin, Kebyart, Gageego, Garage, No Hay Banda, hand werk, Ufa Sextet, Vertixe Sonora, Ricardo Descalzo, Moscow contemporary music ensemble, Sergej Tchirkov, Vladislav Pesin, UMS’n JIP, SurPlus, Studio of New Music, and many others.

Rykova is a frequent participant and invited guest of international music festivals and academies, such as: ECLAT, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Klangspuren, WIEN-Modern, Darmstadt Music Festival, Klang, VertixeVIGO, Summer Academy Schloss Solitude, Tzlil Meudcan Festival, Ensems, Mixtur, OUT・SIDE concert series, Warsaw autumn, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, New Talents Biennale in Cologne, Ultima, Impuls Academy, Agora Actual Percussio, Moscow Ensemble Academy, and others.

Among honors are: Composition Professor in Ciel Composition Academy with ensemble Linea (France, 2022), MATA Festival review panelist (USA, 2022), Composition Professor at Mixtur Festival (Spain, 2022), Guest Composer-Lecturer in Catalonia College of Music (Esmuc) in Barcelona, Spain (2019), RheinSilber Award at New Talents Biennale in Cologne, Germany (2016), Berlin Scholarhip of Academy of Arts in Berlin (2016), Frederic Mompou International Award in Barcelona (2015), finalist of the biggest independent national Russian award in contemporary art «Kandindky Prize» (2014), finalist of Gaudeamus Prize in the Netherlands (2013).