Sergei Polyakov was born in Belarus in 1961. He studied choir conducting at the Glinka State Music College in Minsk, Belarus and then took voice lessons at the Minsk State Conservatory from the well known singer Adam Murzich for two years. When he was still a college student, he founded a wind orchestra. Then, together with the composer Amirov and some other instructors, he founded a Christian Music School. Sergei worked in the orchestra of the Grace Church, also located in Minsk, for 11 years. During that time, he composed a lot of music and created instructional material such as “Starting Wind Orchestra”, “Pieces for Intermediate Level” and “Classical Pieces for Advanced Musicians”. Sergei toured a lot with the choir and for the last two years, prior his moving to the USA, he worked for different organizations. He started new choirs, taught voice, and instructed directors of the church choirs.
Since 2003, Sergei has been living in Portland, Oregon; about at the same time he started his teaching job at the New Song School where he teaches choir, choir conducting and voice. He sees his students as future directors of church choirs.