Nadezhda Simonyan (February 26, 1922 - June 7, 1997) was a Russian composer,[1] who wrote over 40 film scores[2] for movies, radio, and television, as well as chamber and orchestral works, and music for circus performances.[3]
Simonyan was born in Rostov-on-the-Don. She studied composition and piano at Leningrad Conservatory, where she received a diploma in 1950 and earned a medal. Her teachers included Oles Chishko and Venedikt Pushkov.[4]
In 1956, Simonyan wrote her first film soundtrack for Old Man Khottabych, a children's film by Gennadii Kazanskii. Peter Rollberg described Simonyan's strength as a composer as a “. . . warm melodiousness that equally energizes cheerful, dramatic, and tragic episodes with a pragmatic, flexible approach to instrumentation.”[5] In 1960, Italian film maker Federico Fellini praised her soundtrack for the movie Lady with the Dog.[6] She often used smaller chamber orchestras, sometimes with folk instruments, for her film scores.[7]