Composer Rodion Shchedrin. Biography

Rodion Shchedrin was born on December 16, 1932 in Moscow. He came from a musical family, so from childhood he showed interest in music. His father, Konstantin Shchedrin, was a famous composer and music teacher. His mother, Concordia Ivanova, worked at the Bolshoi Theatre.

In May 1941, the future composer entered the Central Music School at the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory. At the same time, he additionally studied piano with pianist Maria Gehtman. The training had to be interrupted due to the war - the family was evacuated to Kuibyshev (now Samara).

Shchedrin returned to the capital in the spring of 1943 and immediately resumed his studies at the music school. However, a year later he was expelled because of a fight. After that, he was accepted into the Moscow Choral College, from which he graduated in 1950. Later, the composer admitted that he had experienced real moments of inspiration there and wrote his first works specifically for the choir.

In the 1950s, the young man graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory, where he studied in two areas at once: composing and playing the piano. Then he entered graduate school and shortly before graduation he wrote his first piano concerto. The young composer was 22 years old at the time.

In addition, the composer tried himself in theatrical genres. He created his most famous composition, the ballet Carmen Suite— in 1967. This was followed by "Anna Karenina", "The Seagull", "The Hunchback Horse", "The Lady with the Dog" and the operas "The Enchanted Wanderer", "Dead Souls", as well as numerous symphonic and chamber works.

Rodion Shchedrin died: biography and work of the outstanding composer

The People's Artist of the USSR died at the age of 93 on the night of August 29.

The young Shchedrin was particularly famous for his work for the cinema. He wrote the music for the films "Height", "And if this is love?", the popular Soviet cartoons "Cockerel — golden comb" and "Kolobok". In total, he has written more than 150 pieces of music.

The composer's creative achievements have been recognized with numerous awards. Shchedrin is a People's Artist of the USSR, a laureate of the Lenin Prize, the USSR State Prize and a two—time laureate of the Russian State Prize.

In addition, the composer is a Full holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland and the first recipient of the Tchaikovsky Medal, established by the Russian Musical Society. The honorary music award was presented to him at the end of 2022, three years before his death.

Since 1958, the composer has been married to ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. Their marriage lasted 57 years. The couple met in 1955. The ballerina was 29 years old at the time, the composer was 22 years old. The ballerina passed away in 2015. He outlived his wife and muse by 10 years. The couple had no children.

Rodion Shchedrin died on the night of August 29, 2025 at the age of 93. He died in hospital after a long illness, the People's Artist was 92 years old.