Dmitri shostakovich family

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) was a Russian composer and pianist and was one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century.

Life and Music
Despite Shostakovich's exceptional talent, it was not until he was nine that he received his first formal piano lessons from his mother, a professional pianist.

In 1919, composer Alexander Glazunov considered the young Shostakovich ready to begin his studies at the Petrograd Conservatory, where he was director.

The 19-year-old Shostakovich produced a First Symphony that is an astonishing act of creative prodigy.

In 1936, Stalin attended a performance of Shostakovich's operatic grotesquerie, Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District.

Dismayed by its lack of positivist flag-saving, the state newspaper, Pravda, slated this "bedlam of noise".

With the gun of the Soviet regime pointed at his head - and Stalin's finger effectively on the trigger - Shostakovich knew he had to produce a surefire winner.

The