Aleksandra Pakhmutova, Russian composer
Aleksandra Pakhmutova is a legend of Soviet and Russian music, a composer who makes stars. You know, she is considered one of the most popular composers of the Soviet Union. Actually, in 1984, she was awarded the title People’s Artist of the USSR. She is an author of over 400 songs, including such popular songs as The Melody, Russian Waltz, Tenderness, Hope, The Old Maple Tree, The Song of the Perturbed Youth, The Bird of Happiness and Good-Bye Moscow. To tell the truth, her art became a part of the Soviet and Russian history.
Aleksandra, or Alya, was born on November 9, 1929 in Stalingrad (now Volgograd). She began playing the piano and composing music at an early age. At the age of five little Pakhmutova composed the first full-length piano piece called Roosters Sing, and the girl went to music school only two years later.
The Great Patriotic War interrupted her studies at the Stalingrad music school, but in 1943 Pakhmutova went to Moscow and entered the music school at the Moscow state music conservatory. Then she became a student of the Moscow State Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky.
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