Sergei Rachmaninoff

1873–1943

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor, widely regarded as one of the finest pianists of his era and among the last great figures of Russian Romanticism. His music synthesised the influences of Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov into a highly personal voice marked by long, song-like melodies, rich harmonies, and dense orchestral textures. After the Russian Revolution he emigrated in 1918, eventually settling in the United States, where he devoted most of his final years to concert touring, and died in Beverly Hills in 1943.