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Galina Ivanovna Ustvolskaya

Born: 17th June 1919, Petrograd

Died: 22nd December 2006, St Petersburg

Nationality: Russian

Galina Ivanovna Ustvolskaya (Russian: Галина Ивановна Уствольская ) was a Russian composer of classical music.

Known as "the lady with the hammer", her music has been described as demanding "everything from the performer", uncompromising in her trademark textured homophonic blocks of sound. Ustvolskaya created her own unique style, characterized by unusual combinations of instruments that created highly specific tone clusters and textures and her large dynamic ranges.

She was reclusive and rarely accepted to be interviewed as she found it unpleasant to talk about her own music. In her lifetime, she only approved of 21 of her works for performance.

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