№ 281/кор. 125th Birth Anniversary of S. Prokofiev (1891–1953), composer

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891‒1953) was one of the major composers of the 20^th century, pianist, conductor and teacher.

 

Prokofiev was born in Sontsovka (now Krasne, Krasnoarmiisk Raion, Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine), a remote rural estate in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire, into a family of an agronomist. He composed his first piano composition at the age of five and he took theory and composition lessons from Reinhold Glière in 1902‒1903. In 1909, he graduated the Saint Petersburg Conservatory as a composer and in 1914 as a pianist.

 

Prokofiev left his mark in history as musical language trail-blazer. His most famous works are opera War and Peace, Op. 91 (1943; 2^nd edition, 1952), ballets Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 (1936), Cinderella, Op. 87 (1944), The Tale of the Stone Flower, Op. 118 (1950), oratorio On Guard for Peace, Op. 124 (1950), cantata Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78 (1939) and a children’s story Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67.