Liudmila Kovnatskaya

Russian musicologist and teacher Liudmila Grigorievna Kovnatskaya was born on 5 February 1941 in Leningrad and studied there at the State Conservatoire, then in Moscow, specialising in twentieth century English music.

She wrote specifically about Benjamin Britten, and about twentieth century English music in general, and as a result, various festivals and concerts dedicated to English music were organised in Russia. She also researched Russian music, and wrote about Shostakovich and about Russian-English connections.

She taught at the Rimsky Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatoire and was chief researcher at the Russian Institute of Fine Arts History in St Petersburg. She was also a member of the editorial board of the journal Tempo, based in Cambridge UK, a consultant on Russian music for Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and was a guest lecturer at Manchester University, at the Aldeburgh Festival and at the Ural Conservatoire in Yekaterinburg. She received various prizes for her work.

Liudmila Kovnatskaya died at her home in St Petersburg on 9 May 2023, aged eighty-two, following a long illness.