Dmitri Shostakovich was a Russian composer known for his 15 symphonies, concerti, and chamber works, created under the standards of Soviet art. Dmitri Shostakovich was a globally known composer whose musicians included more than 100 films and one of Russia's finest thinkers who were censored during the tyranny of Joseph Stalin. In 1934 Shostakovich worked with Aleksei Dikij on the famous opera Katerina Izmailova (aka Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk). Dikij's production of "Katerina Izmailova" had more than 100 performances in Leningrad and Moscow and was considered a highlight of his career as a producer. But, in 1936, the opera was harshly attacked by some reviewers of the Pravda, the official publication of the Communist Party. Nazi Germany and its allies occupied the U.S. Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 and German and Finnish forces, surrounded by Leningrad (St. Petersburg). Defenders and citizens in Leningrad, which was under blockade, were doomed because the belligerents limited their food and energy supply to the nearby area.