List of Russian composers
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An alphabetical list of significant composers who were born in Russia or worked there for a significant time.
The Five
The Five, also known as "The Mighty Handful", a circle of influential Russian musical nationalists, during the Romantic period in music:
- Mily Balakirev (1837–1910)
- Alexander Borodin (1833–1887), perhaps best known for Polovtsian Dances from his opera Prince Igor
- César Cui (1835–1918)
- Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881), perhaps best known for Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on Bald Mountain
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908), perhaps best known for his tone poem Scheherazade and The Flight of the Bumblebee from his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan
Other Russian composers
- Alexander Abramsky (1898–1985), composer, best-known work is his piano concerto which premiered in 1941
- Joseph Yulyevich Achron (1886–1943), composer of Jewish origin. He later settled in USA. His most famous work is the "Hebrew Melody" for violin and orchestra
- Iosif Andriasov (1933–2000), Moscow born, Armenian composer of three symphonies, who rejected the Lenin Prize by stating: "By accepting a reward from criminals, one becomes an accomplice to the criminals." Emigrated to the US in 1979
- Anton Arensky (1861–1906), Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32 is his most famous work
- Sasha Argov (1914–95), Russian-born Israeli composer
- Alexander Arkhangelsky (1846–1924), composer of church music and conductor
- Nikolai Artsybushev (1858–1937), composer and music publisher
- Vyacheslav Artyomov (born 1940), Soviet and Russian composer
- Lera Auerbach (born 1973) 21st-century composer of opera, ballet, symphonic works and chamber music
- Revol Samoilovich Bunin (1924–1976), student of Shostakovich, he went on to compose 9 symphonies and several concertos
- Georgy Catoire (1861–1926), Russian composer of French heritage
- Yury G. Chernavsky (born 1947), 20th- and 21st-century composer, works in Russia, West Europe and US (Hollywood), writes music mostly in R&B, Pop and Rock music styles
- Pavel Chesnokov (1877–1944), choral composer and conductor. He composed over five hundred choral works
- Alexander Gregorovitch Chuhaldin (189-1951), violinist, conductor, composer, and music educator, later emigrated to Canada
- Georgi Eduardovich Conus (1862–1933, composed a variety of vocal and instrumental works, formulated "metro-techtonic analysis" for measurement of musical symmetry, brother of Juilus and Lev Conus.
- Julius Eudardovich Conus (1869–1942), Russian Empire and Soviet violinist and composer, known for adeptness at long-lined melody, brother of Georgi and Lev Conus
- Lev Eudardovich Conus (1871–1944), pianist, music educator, and composer, brother of Georgi and Julius Conus
- Serge Yulievitch Conus (1902–1988), pianist and composer, son of Julius Conus
- Alexander Dargomyzhsky (1813–1869)
- Edison Denisov (1929–1996) Russian composer of so-called "Underground" — "Anti-Collectivist", "alternative" or "nonconformist" works in the Soviet music
- Leonid Desyatnikov (born 1955), notable composer of opera and film scores
- Victor Ewald (1860–1935), composer of four famous brass quintets
- Vasiliy Filatov (born 1984) film and interactive media composer, lecturer
- Ossip Gabrilowitsch (1878–1936), Russian composer of Jewish background who lived many years in the United States, famous for piano miniatures such as the "Caprice Burlesque"
- German Galynin (1922–1966), studied under Dmitri Shostakovich and Nikolai Myaskovsky
- Valery Gavrilin (1939–1999) 20th-century composer of chamber, vocal, choral and ballet music
- Aleksandr Gedike (1877–1957), composer and pianist, won the Rubinstein Prize for Composition at the young age of 23
- Michael L. Geller (1937–2007), 20th- and 21st-century composer and viola player, lived and worked in Russia, The Netherlands and Israel
- Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936), late Romantic composer influenced by Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt, one of the few composers ever to write a saxophone concerto
- Reinhold Glière (1875–1956), composer who wrote pieces in a romantic style well into the 20th century
- Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857), one of the first significant Russian composers
- Nicolai Golovanov (1891–1951), also a foremost conductor
- Alexander Gretchaninov (1864–1956), late Romantic, student of Rimsky-Korsakov, member of the "new Russian choral school"
- Sofia Gubaidulina (born 1931), Russian composer of half Tartar ethnicity
- Alexander Ilyinsky (1859–1919), composer known for the opera The Fountain of Bakhchisaray, orchestral suites, and a symphony
- Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859–1935), Romantic composer, noted for his orchestral suite Caucasian Sketches
- Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904–1987), 20th-century composer
- Vasily Kalinnikov (1866–1901), Romantic composer who lived a short life due to illness. Most famous for his first symphony
- Nikolai Kapustin (born 1937), 20th-century composer and pianist, who uses jazz idioms set amid formal classical structures in his compositions
- Yakov Kazyansky (born 1948), 20th- and 21st-century composer, writes mostly theatrical music and jazz
- Aram Khachaturian (1903–1978), composer of "Sabre Dance". His music is often used in TV and movie soundtracks
- Yuri Khanon (born 1965), 20th- and 21st-century composer-ideologist of opera, ballet, symphonic works and chamber music, laureate of the European Film Awards (1988)
- Anatoli Komarowski (1909–1955)
- Alexander Kopylov (1854–1911), composer of four quartets, a symphony, also a member of the Belyayev circle
- Yevgeny Kostitsyn (born 1963), 21st-century composer, originator of synchronous and Cubist music
- Andrei Krylov (born 1961), 20th and 21st-century composer, wrote mostly works for classical guitar, flute and keyboards
- Boris Ledkovsky (1894—1975), Russian-American composer of Church music
- Aleksandr Lokshin (1920–1987), 20th-century composer, wrote eleven symphonies and other symphonic works such as "Les Fleurs du Mal" (1939, on Baudelaire's poems)
- Dmitry Lubensky (born 1979), 21st-century composer of film scores and cartoons
- Anatoly Lyadov (1855–1914), known for The Enchanted Lake, Baba Yaga, and the Eight Russian Folksongs
- Sergei Lyapunov (1859–1924), composer and pianist, member of the Belyayev circle
- Vladimir Martynov (born 1946), 20th- and 21st-century composer
- Nikolai Medtner (1880–1951), 20th-century composer and pianist
- Fred Momotenko (born 1970), 20th- and 21st-century composer
- Alexander Mosolov (1900–1973), avant-garde composer of the early Soviet era, best known for Iron Foundry from the ballet "Steel"
- Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881–1950), 20th-century composer and teacher of Polish birth, composer of 27 symphonies, 13 string quartets and other works
- Vyacheslav Nagovitsin (born 1939), 20th-century composer and violinist, works in Russia
- Nikolai Obukhov (1892–1954) known for his religious mysticism and electronic instrument, the croix sonore; worked mainly in France
- Alla Pavlova (born 1952), 20th- and 21st-century composer. Recognized mostly for her symphonic compositions
- Gavriil Popov (1904–1972), Soviet Russian composer of modernist bent who ran afoul of Soviet authorities
- Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953), 20th century neoclassical composer, known for his symphonies (particularly #1 "Classical Symphony and #5), ballets, five piano concertos and six operas. Two of his best known pieces are Peter and the Wolf and Romeo and Juliet
- Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943), late Romantic virtuoso pianist and composer, known for Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and four popular piano concertos
- Vladimir Rebikov (1866–1920), late Romantic 20th-century composer and pianist
- Nikolai Roslavets (1881–1944), convinced modernist and cosmopolitan thinker; his music was officially suppressed from 1930 onwards
- Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894), pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt. Particularly known for his piano music
- Adrian Schaposhnikov (1888–1967), 20th-century composer
- Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915), Romantic, known for his harmonically adventurous piano sonatas and theatrical orchestral works
- Julian Scriabin (1908–1919), son of Alexander Scriabin and a composer himself. Drowned at the young age of 11
- Yuri Shaporin (1887-1966)
- Rodion Shchedrin (born 1932), chairman of the Union of Russian Composers from 1973 until 1990, best known for his Concerto for Orchestra No. 1 "Naughty Limericks"
- Vladimir Shcherbachov (1889–1952)
- Alfred Schnittke (1934–1998) composer, wrote 9 symphonies, 6 Concerto Grosso, 4 Violin Concertos, and many other works in various genres
- Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), 20th-century composer, wrote fifteen symphonies and is especially noted for his fifth symphony
- Nikolay Sokolov (1859–1922), composer of chamber and choral music, member of the Belyayev circle
- Maximilian Steinberg (1883–1946), 20th-century composer and pedagogue, born in what is now Lithuania
- Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), 20th century primitivist, neoclassical and serial composer, known for his early ballet The Rite of Spring
- Georgy Sviridov (1915–1998), 20th-century neoromantic composer of mostly vocal and choral music, most famous for his orchestral suite 'The Snowstorm'
- Alexander Taneyev (1850–1918), Romantic era nationalist composer
- Sergei Taneyev (1856–1915), Romantic composer, oriented towards classical forms and the central European tradition
- Boris Tchaikovsky (1925–1996), part of the second generation of Russian composers, following in the steps of Pyotr Tchaikovsky (to whom he was not related)
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), influential Romantic composer, famous for his ballets (The Nutcracker, Swan Lake), his Romeo and Juliet Overture–Fantasy, 1812 Overture and his later symphonies (#4 – #6)
- Alexander Tcherepnin (1899–1977), composer and pianist, invented his own harmonic languages, including the "Tcherepnin scale"
- Nikolai Nikolayevich Tcherepnin (1873–1945), father of Alexander Tcherepnin, he wrote in an exotically spiced late Romantic idiom, most famous for his ballets 'Narcissus and Echo' and 'The Pavilion of Armide'*
- Galina Ustvolskaya (1919–2006) Soviet avant-garde composer, Shostakovich's most notable student
- Vladimir Vavilov (1925–1973) guitarist, lutenist and composer of the famous "Ave Maria" which he falsely attributed to Giulio Caccini
- Alexander Zhurbin (born 1945), 20th- and 21st-century composer, primarily of musical theatre, film, popular song, and symphonic works
