David Fyodorovich Tukhmanov PAR (, was born on July 20, 1940, in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian composer. People's Artist of Russia (2000), State Prize of Russian Federation (2003, 2019). Biography Tukhmanov is a son of an Armenian engineer Fyodor Davidovich Tukhmanov and a Russian music teacher Vera Anatolyevna Karasyova. The Tukhmanovs are the descendants of the Armenian princely house of Tumanyans, the offspring of the princes Mamikonians, Lords of Dsegh. David began to learn music under the direction of his mother at an early age and wrote his first piece of music (Lezginka), when he was four years old. Then he finished Gnesins musical school (1958) and composer's branch of Gnesins Musical College (1963). His degree's work was the oratorio for soloists, chorus and an orchestra Distance After Distance, which is based on fragments of the epic poem of the same name by Alexander Tvardovsky. Early career Tukhmanov is known for several Soviet-themed hit songs such as "Victory Day" (Russian: День Победы, lit. 'Den Pobedy') and other popular songs. His first hit song was "Last Electrichka" (Russian: Последняя электричка, lit. 'Poslednyaya electrichka') in 1968. In 1973 Tukhmanov wrote songs and music for a TV film This Merry Planet. In the following year he released soundtrack album, which also included several additional songs. In 1972 Tukhmanov released his first personally authored album How Beautiful the World is (Russian: Как прекрасен мир, lit. 'Kak prekrasen mir') which he described as a trial work cause of its conceptual structure. In 1975-76 he created an album-suite On a Wave of My Memory (Russian: По волне моей памяти, lit. 'Po volne moyey pamyati'). The idea of On a Wave of My Memory belonged to Tatyana Sashko, the wife of David Tukhmanov, and she was the one who picked the classic poems for the album's songs. It is considered to be the first conceptual Russian rock album. Wave's execution was done in secret, in more remote studios across Moscow, with tight lips and low profile, for fear of censors shutting down the project before fruition, but this did not happen. This album was a record-breaking success for the USSR, becoming a highly sought-after product. It rivaled the top albums of Pink Floyd or Deep Purple in terms of desirability. 1980s In January, 1981, Tukhmanov organized rock band Moskva (Moscow) — Nikolai Noskov (vocals, rhythm guitar), Alexey Belov (vocals, lead guitar,