List of Russian composers

Inside of Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow

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, Procession of the Nobles from his opera-ballet Mlada, 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 (1914–1995), Russian-born Israeli composer
• Alexander Arkhangelsky (1846–1924), composer of church music and a 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 (1892–1951), 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)
• 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
• Dmitrii Miachin (born 1984), 21st-century film and video game composer
• Alexander Mordukhovich (born 1946), 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
• Alexei Stanchinsky (1888–1914)
• 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 ballets The Rite of Spring, Petrushka, and The Firebird.
• 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

See also

• Chronological list of Russian classical composers
• Category:Russian composers