Nina Makarova, also known as Makarova-Khachaturian, was a Soviet composer and pianist. She was born on 12 August 1906 in Yurino, then in the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate of the Russian Empire.
Makarova graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Music College in 1927. She then completed her studies at the Moscow Conservatory in 1936 and its postgraduate programme in 1938.
Her works include the operas Courage (1948) and Zoya (1963), song cycles setting poems by Alexander Pushkin and Shota Rustaveli, and songs to texts by Mikhail Isakovsky, Lev Oshanin, and Margarita Aliger. She also wrote music for stage productions.
Her film work includes In the Land of Puppets (1941), Song of Chapaev (1944), and Spring Tale (1949).
In 1975, Makarova was named an Honoured Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. She was married to the composer Aram Khachaturian and was the mother of Karen Khachaturian. The Yurino Children’s Music School was named after her.
Makarova died in Moscow on 15 January 1976 and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.