For Western music lovers:

Remembering the classical Russian composer of symphonies, concertos, operas, ballets, and chamber music, on his 181st birth anniversary.

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
(May 7, 1840 – November 6, 1893)

Between 1871 and 1876 he produced a series of great works, including Swan Lake (1876) and the First Piano Concerto (1875), which established him as Russia’s leading composer. 1880 saw Tchaikovsky compose perhaps his most famous piece, the 1812 Overture – cannons at the ready! By 1887, he was conducting his own music to great acclaim and producing such works as the Sixth Symphony, the ‘Pathetique’ in 1893 (the year of his death) and the ballets The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892).