MOSCOW (AP) — Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, who created the celebrated ballets “Anna Karenina” and the “Carmen Suite,” has died in Germany at age of 92, Moscow's Bolshoi Theater said Friday.

He and his wife of 57 years, legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, dominated the Soviet and Russian cultural scene for the latter part of the last century. She died in 2015.

Shchedrin's work ranged from choral music and concertos to opera and ballet, blending Russian folk influences, classical traditions and avant-garde technique. His 1972 ballet “Anna Karenina” remains a staple for major theaters around the world.

The Bolshoi Theater, where Shchedrin worked for many years, praised him in a statement for his “priceless creative legacy.”

“This is a huge tragedy and an irreparable loss for the

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