Russian composer whose orchestral works and poetic, beautifully polished piano miniatures earned him a position of stature in Russian Romantic music.

The son of the conductor of the imperial opera, Lyadov entered the conservatory in 1870, studying composition with Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay), but he was expelled for idleness in 1876. Readmitted in 1878, he later occupied various teaching posts in the conservatory and the imperial chapel. From 1897 he was much occupied with the arrangement of folk songs collected by the Imperial Geographical Society. Until 1900 he mainly composed piano pieces. Turning to orchestral music he wrote two of his most successful pieces, Kikimora and The Enchanted Lake, which were based on sketches for a fantastic opera he never finished.