Igor Stravinsky, composer

Born: June 17, 1882 in Orantienbaum (now Lomonosov), Russia

Died: April 6, 1971 in New York

Education: born to musical family: his father was a widely recognized bass-baritone, and his mother was an amateur pianist; attended St. Petersburg University as a law student, where he met Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov, son of the composer who later became his teacher

Known for: his stylistic diversity and innovations in rhythm and harmony; composed in roughly three periods: Russian/nationalistic period, Neoclassical period, and Serial period; also known as a pianist and conductor, often through premiering his own works

Notable compositions: Russian period: The Firebird, Petrushka, Rite of Spring, Les Noces; Neoclassical period: Pulcinella, Oedipus Rex, Symphony in C, The Rake’s Progress; Serial period: Cantata, Three Songs from Shakespeare, Agon, Canticum Sacrum, The Flood

Emigration: travelled to France to work with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and stayed in Western Europe once World War I began and the Russian borders closed; lived in Switzerland and then France, where he became a citizen in 1934; later moved to Los Angeles and became a naturalized American citizen in 1945