Sergei Rachmaninoff

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF d1943. Russian composer / conductor and virtuoso pianist widely regarded to be the greatest of the early 20th century. As a composer the last of the great classical romantics influenced by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov , as a pianist his legendary power and expressiveness made him one of the highest paid concert stars of the 1930-40s. Famously left handed he played over 1000 concerts in the USA but in later life grew tired of the unlimited requests to play his Prelude in C Sharp minor. He became a US citizen just days before his death.