RODION SHCHEDRIN, RENOWNED RUSSIAN COMPOSER, DIES AT 92.(PHOTO).

Rodion Shchedrin, renowned Russian composer, dies at 92

Rodion Shchedrin, the Russian composer celebrated for ballets including “Anna Karenina” and the “Carmen Suite,” has died in Germany at the age of 92, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow announced Friday.

Shchedrin and his wife of 57 years, legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, were central figures in Soviet and Russian arts until her death in 2015. His prolific body of work spanned choral music, concertos, opera, and ballet, combining Russian folk traditions, classical forms, and avant-garde techniques. His 1972 ballet “Anna Karenina” remains a cornerstone of major theaters worldwide. The Bolshoi praised him for his “priceless creative legacy,” calling his passing “a huge tragedy and an irreparable loss for the entire world of art.”

Born in Moscow in 1932 to a musical family, Shchedrin graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He married Plisetskaya in 1958 and composed works for her, including “The Seagull,” “The Lady with the Dog,” and “Anna Karenina,” all based on works by Anton Chekhov. Both artists faced scrutiny under the Soviet regime; Plisetskaya was monitored by the KGB and restricted from international travel, while some of Shchedrin’s compositions, notably the “Carmen Suite,” were criticized by officials for their modernity.

In 1973, Shchedrin succeeded Dmitri Shostakovich as president of the Union of Composers of Russia. From the late 1980s, he divided his time between Moscow, Munich, and Switzerland. Reflecting on his life in 2012, he told Russian television that his greatest wish was “to be with my wife forever.”