150th Anniversary of the Birth of Sergei Rachmaninoff

Born in 1873 in Semyonovo, Sergei Rachmaninoff is a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist and conductor who became a naturalised American citizen. He studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory and later at the Moscow Conservatory. When the Revolution came in 1917, he decided to leave Russia to tour in America and Western Europe. He is particularly known for his famous concertos for piano No. 2 and No. 3, his symphonic poem Isle of the Dead and his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. His work, most of which was written for piano, was firmly in the Romantic tradition and was heavily influenced by Tchaikovsky. Rooted in tonality, his lyrical, tormented style is characterised by the expressiveness of the nuances, the refined sobriety of the themes and the translation of emotions through an expansion of the harmonic palette.