Oleg Karavaychuk

He attended the School of Music at the Leningrad State Conservatory where he was under mentorship from Dmitri Shostakovich and Sviatoslav Richter,[2] from which he graduated in 1945.

Since 1953 he wrote music for films, although he claims that he began in movie industry because it was the only work which was not prohibited by the KGB.

[4] For years Karavaychuk lived on the 15th Line of Vasilyevsky Island with his mother, in the house between the Sredny and Maly Prospects, close to the park named after Vera Slutskaya.

With his extravagant appearance and behavior (manner of walking and stay, to deal with saleswomen, sunglasses, and a long mane of hair) Oleg Karavaychuk earned the nickname "mad composer" and was, therefore, a local landmark.

[4] Oleg Karavaychuk collaborated with Sergei Parajanov, Vasily Shukshin, Ilya Averbakh,[5] Kira Muratova (Brief Encounters, The Long Goodbye) and others.