ELCHEVA, Irina Mikhaylovna

Her mother, Nadezhda Bogolyubova, was also a composer, music theorist, and pianist, and her father, M.D. Yel'cheva, was a singer. She studied at Mussorgsky College with Sergey Vol′fenson during World War II and then at the Leningrad Conservatory, where she studied piano with Aleksandr Kamensky (1950) and composition with O.S. Chishko (1958). Elcheva was a member of the USSR Union of Composers, the Znanie Society, and the Union of Theatre Workers.

During the Siege of Leningrad, Elcheva remained in the city and helped to clear rubble and performed music in hospitals for the wounded. She would later earn medals for her efforts, including one "For the Defence of Leningrad" (1943) and "Veteran of Labour" (1985).

Elcheva later traveled on expeditions to collect folk songs and completed the opera Spartak in 1962. Much of her music is based on folk tunes and her experiences during wartime.