Prokofiev

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, and conductor who is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. A graduate of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, he initially made his name as an iconoclastic composer-pianist with ferociously dissonant and virtuosic works. He achieved international success across numerous music genres, creating celebrated masterpieces such as the children's classic Peter and the Wolf, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, the opera War and Peace, and the Classical Symphony. Despite periods living in the United States and Europe, he returned to his homeland in 1936, where he became a leading figure in Soviet culture before facing censure for "formalism" in his later years.