Andrei Yakovlevich Eshpai (1925-2015) was an outstanding Soviet and Russian composer, pianist, pedagogue and public figure.
Andrei Eshpai was born into a musical family in Kozmodemyansk. His father, Yakov Eshpai, was a composer and musicologist-folklorist, and his mother, Valentina Togaeva, was a connoisseur and lover of folk songs. In 1928 the family moved to Moscow.
Andrei Eshpai began his musical education under the guidance of his father. In 1941 he graduated from the Gnessin Children's Music School. During the Great Patriotic War he expressed a desire to volunteer for the front, but because of his minority he was refused. In 1943 he entered the Chkalov (Orenburg) machine-gun school, where he completed the courses of military interpreters at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages of the Red Army.
Since the end of 1944 Andrei Eshpai fought on the 1st Belorussian Front. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star for the data obtained during the interrogation of prisoners, which allowed him to suppress many firing points, and for the personal destruction of 8 enemy soldiers and officers in the battles for Berlin.
After the war, Andrei Eshpai studied at the Musical School of the Moscow Conservatory at the piano and composition faculties. In 1953 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in composition and piano. In 1956 he completed his postgraduate studies at the Conservatory.
Andrei Eshpai performed as a pianist and performed his own works. From 1965-1970 he taught composition at the Moscow Conservatory.
Andrei Eshpai was chairman of the jury of many international and All-Russian competitions, including the International Tchaikovsky Competition (Piano Competition, 1978, 1986, 1998) and the All-Russian A. P. Petrov Composition Competition (St. Petersburg).
From 1960 he was secretary of the RSFSR Composers' Union, and in 1973-1979 he was first secretary of this organization. In 1968 he became secretary of the Union of Composers of the USSR.
Andrei Eshpai was president of the Russian Authors' Society from 1996 to 2001 and from 2006 to 2015.
He was also a People's Deputy of the USSR from the creative unions.
Andrei Eshpai passed away in 2015 at the age of 90 after suffering the effects of a stroke. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
