Dmitri Shostakovich

Born: September 12 [25] 1906 (Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire)
Died: August 09, 1975 (Moscow, USSR)

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich
Russian / Soviet composer, pianist, musical and public figure, teacher, professor. Father of the conductor and pianist Maxim Shostakovich.
People's Artist of USSR (1954). Hero of Socialist Labor (1966). Lenin Prize (1958), five Stalin Prizes (1941, 1942, 1946, 1950, 1952), the USSR State Prize (1968) and the Glinka State Prize of the RSFSR (1974).
Dmitry Shostakovich became a world-famous composer at the age of 20, when his First Symphony was performed in concert halls of the USSR, Europe and the United States. 10 years later, his operas and ballets were performed in the world's leading theaters. 15 symphonies of Shostakovich were called by contemporaries "the Great epoch of Russian and world music".
His vast production includes, in addition to symphonic and choral music, 15 string quartets and various chamber, ballet and film music.
Shostakovich was in fact one of the most prolific authors of film music in Soviet Russia.