Sergei
Prokofiev

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) was a composer and pianist born in Sontsovka, in present-day Ukraine. He entered the St Petersburg Conservatoire in 1904 and graduated in 1914, winning the Rubinstein Prize with his First Piano Concerto. After leaving Russia in 1918, he lived in the United States and Europe before settling permanently in the Soviet Union in 1936.

His music combines a distinctive melodic voice with rhythmic energy and sharp contrasts of character. His output encompasses symphonies, concertos, piano and chamber music, opera, ballet and film scores. Peter and the Wolf, The Love for Three Oranges and Romeo and Juliet reveal different sides of his dramatic imagination. For the cinema, his collaboration with Sergei Eisenstein produced Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible.