Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, known for ballets including “Anna Karenina” and “Carmen Suite,” has died at age 92, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre said on Friday.
Shchedrin, the husband of late ballet legend Maya Plisetskaya, was “one of the greatest contemporary geniuses” whose works are performed on leading stages worldwide, the Bolshoi said in a statement.
“Rodion Shchedrin was a unique phenomenon and marked an entire era in world musical culture,” the statement read.
The state-run news agency TASS, citing a source close to the composer, reported that he passed away in Germany.
Born in Moscow on Dec. 16, 1932, Shchedrin gained international fame with his “Carmen Suite” (1967), in which Plisetskaya starred at the Bolshoi, cementing their reputation as a Soviet-era cultural power couple. Plisetskaya, one of the most celebrated ballerinas of the 20th century, died in 2015 at age 89.
Shchedrin drew on Russian literature and folklore for works including the ballets “The Little Humpbacked Horse” and “The Seagull” and the opera “Lolita.” He composed more than 80 pieces overall, including symphonies and concertos, leaving behind what the Bolshoi called “a priceless artistic heritage … that echoes in audiences’ hearts.”
AFP contributed reporting.
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