Vyacheslav Aleksandrovitch Ovchinnikov, born on May 29, 1936, in Voronezh, RSFSR, was a Soviet and Russian composer and conductor. He began composing at the age of nine, and by fifteen, his talent earned him admission to the Moscow Conservatory. There, he studied composition under Semyon Bogatyrev and Tikhon Khrennikov. Ovchinnikov's first symphony, premiered in 1961 and conducted by Alexandre Gauk, marked a significant breakthrough in his career. He went on to compose music for numerous films, including Ivan's Childhood and Andrei Roublev, both directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, as well as Sergei Bondarchuk's epic film adaptation of War And Peace. Ovchinnikov received the Komsomol Prize in 1975 for his work on the film They Fought For The Fatherland. Ovchinnikov passed away on February 4, 2019, in Moscow.
