Here's the music from Kamila Valieva’s short program Olympic routine

15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva broke the short program world record score at this year’s European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. Now she’s breaking records at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 – but what music accompanied Kamila Valieva’s short program routine yesterday, and what about her free skating performance?

Kamila Valieva’s short program music is by a young Russian pianist

If her routine during this year’s Winter Olympics left you breathless, you’re not alone. Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva wowed during her debut yesterday, before going on to make history today.

The 15-year-old, from Kazan, Russia, chose Kirill Richter’s composition, In Memoriam, for her short program performance.

Richter is a 32-year-old Russian pianist. Daniil Gleihengaus choreographed, as noted by Richter himself in an Instagram post three days ago.

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In Memoriam is also on YouTube. Its original release date was 27 September 2019. It also features a cello and violin. Richter currently has 1.38K subscribers on YouTube, with only one upload – In Memoriam.

Watch Valieva’s short program routine below, accompanied by In Memoriam of Kirill Richter.

What was the music from Kamila Valieva’s free skating routine?

For her free skating event, Kamila Valieva’s routine featured the composition Boléro, by Maurice Ravel.

It’s a one-movement orchestral piece. Ravel originally composed it as a ballet for Russian actress and dancer Ida Rubinstein. It premiered in 1928.

Valieva has earned praise for both events. In the past, however, audiences have found her accompanying music lacking in narrative or otherwise insufficiently inspirational. 

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Others love it, arguing it fits her performances well.

What other compositions has she used?

During Valieva’s figure skating career, she has performed routines to the accompaniment of compositions from Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (Spiegel Im Spiegel), English rock band Muse (Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3) and Canadian pair skater – and pianist – Eric Radford (Storm).

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For two years, her routines featured Adagio Of Spartacus And Phrygia, from Aram Khachaturian’s ballet Spartacus. 

Khachaturian was a Soviet and Armenian composer and conductor. Spartacus debuted in Leningrad on 27 December 1956. Its adagio also featured in the 2006 film Ice Age: The Meltdown.

Bruno Cooke

Bruno Cooke has been a freelance journalist since 2019, primarily with GRV Media. He was an early contributor to The Focus, and has written for HITC, Groundviews and the Sheffield University newspaper – he earned his MA in Global Journalism there in 2021. He’s the Spoken Word Poetry Editor for The Friday Poem, and self-published his debut novel Reveries in 2019, which his mum called both a “fine read” and “excellent Christmas present”. Bruno has lived in China, Sri Lanka and the Philippines and likes, among other things: bicycle touring, black and white Japanese films, pub quizzes, fermentation and baklava. In 2023, Bruno will set off with his partner on a round-the-world cycle.