mily alexanyevich balakirev (born nizhny-novgorod 2 january 1837; died st petersburg 29 may 1910) was a russian composer. his music sounds very russian, and he was a very important influence on other russian composers such as modest mussorgsky, nikolai rimsky-korsakov, alexander borodin and césar cui. these five composers were known as the “mighty handful”. balakirev mainly wrote music for orchestra, choir and piano and solo songs.