List of Russian composers

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)

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

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 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