Russian composer Andrei Petrov was born on September 2, 1930, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Upon his graduation from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1954, he went on to compose several instrumental pieces (the symphonic poem "Radda and Loiko," the ballets "The Station Master," and "The Shore of Hope.") In the 1960s, Petrov established himself as a popular song and film composer. His most prominent films scores included Beware of a Car (1966), Taming of Fire (1973), The Office Romance (1976), Autumn Marathon (1978), and The Cruel Romance (1983). The composer continued to write "serious" music as well -- the ballets The Creation of the World (1971) and Pushkin (1978), and the opera Peter the Great (1975). In the 1980s and '90s, Petrov composed several successful concertos for violin and piano and symphonic works, among them "The Master and Margarita" (1984) and "Russia of the Bells" (1990) -- the latter being variations on a theme from Modest Mussorgsky -- and the rock ballet Memory. Petrov has been the chairman of the St. Petersburg Composers Union since 1964 and the president of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society since 1992. He received numerous awards and honors, including the designation of People's Artist of the Soviet Union (1980) and the State Prize (1967, 1976). In 1992, Petrov's score for the movie Promised Heaven was distinguished with a Nika, Russia's equivalent of the Oscar. ~ Yuri German