Pakhmutova, Aleksandra Nikolaevna

Pakhmutova, Aleksandra Nikolaevna 

Born Nov. 9, 1929, in Beketovka, now under the jurisdiction of the Volgograd city soviet. Soviet composer. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1971)

In 1953, Pakhmutova graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, where she studied composition with V. Ia. Shebalin, completing graduate study under his guidance in 1956. Since 1968 she has served as secretary of the administrative board of the Composers’ Union of the USSR. She has worked in various genres but is especially well known for her songs, among them “The Geologists,” “Embracing the Sky,” “Tenderness,” “Song of Troubled Youth,” “The Melody,” “Who Will Respond,” and the cycle Gagarin’s Constellation. Other works include a concerto for orchestra (1972; it provided the music for the ballet Illumination; premiere 1974, Bolshoi Theater, Moscow), the Russian Suite for orchestra (1953), a concerto for trumpet and orchestra (1955), Pioneer cantatas, and music for films. She has been awarded two orders.

REFERENCE

Dobrynina, E. Aleksandra Pakhmutova. Moscow, 1973.