Dmitri Shostakovich

Bio

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Russian composer and pianist born in Saint Petersburg in 1906. He studied at the Petrograd Conservatory and rose to prominence with his First Symphony in 1926. His career was marked by alternating official acclaim and political censure under Soviet authorities, notably after the 1936 Pravda denunciation of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Shostakovich composed 15 symphonies, numerous string quartets, concertos, and film scores, often embedding personal and political subtexts within outwardly compliant works. He served as a professor at the Moscow and Leningrad Conservatories and remained a central figure in 20th-century classical music until his death in 1975.