Aleksandra Pakhmutova
Aleksandra Nikolayevna Pakhmutova has remained one of the best known figures in Soviet and later Russian popular music since she first achieved fame in her homeland in the 1960s.
She was born on November 9, 1929 in Beketovka , Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, and began playing the piano and composing music at an early age. She was admitted to the prestigious Moscow Conservatory and graduated in 1953. In 1956 she completed a postgraduate course led by the outstanding composer Vissarion Shebalin.
Source: Wikipedia