Background
Eshpai was born at Kozmodemyansk, Mari El. He was the son of the composer Yakov Andreyevich Eshpai, and the father of the filmmaker Andrei Andreyevich Eshpai.
Eshpai was born at Kozmodemyansk, Mari El. He was the son of the composer Yakov Andreyevich Eshpai, and the father of the filmmaker Andrei Andreyevich Eshpai.
A Red Army World World War II veteran, he studied piano at Moscow Conservatory from 1948 to 1953 under Vladimir Sofronitsky, and composition under Nikolai Rakov, Nikolai Myaskovsky and Evgeny Golubev.
He performed his postgraduate study under Aram Khachaturian from 1953 to 1956. On 8 November 2015, Eshpai died in Moscow from a stroke at the age of 90.
Union of Soviet Composers.