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130th anniversary of composer Prokofiev celebrated in Istanbul

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130th anniversary of composer Prokofiev celebrated in Istanbul


31.05.2021


The Russian Center of the Russian Society for Education, Cultural and Business Cooperation in Istanbul hosted a meeting dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of composer Sergei Prokofiev. The hall brought together Russian compatriots and members of the diaspora, music lovers.

Musical abilities of Prokofiev began to manifest themselves in childhood. At the age of 9 he wrote his first opera. Then he graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in composition, piano and organ. A good musical education allowed him, as a composer and performer, to successfully tour Europe and America.

The composer has written many operas and ballets, such as Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Steel Jump, The Love for Three Oranges and others. Prokofiev is the author of music for films "Ivan the Terrible", "Alexander Nevsky", "Lermontov", etc. Fragments of these films were shown to the participants of the meeting.

During the Great Patriotic War, Sergei Prokofiev worked on the opera War and Peace. The audience was surprised to learn that the composer was an outstanding chess player, playing with Lasker and Capablanca. He said that "chess is the music of thought."

The last years of his life were darkened by the party's decree on formalism, after which the composer did not have the opportunity to perform for a year, but continued to create music until his last days. He died on the same day as Stalin and the country learned about his death only a few days later. The conductor of the Mariinsky Theater Valery Gergiev said that today Prokofiev is perceived as Tchaikovsky and is the Mozart of the 20th century: “There were no such melodists as Prokofiev in the 20th century. Composers equal to the talent of Sergei Sergeevich will not appear on earth soon ”.

The 2nd part of the meeting was a concert. The pianist and violinist performed works by Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and other composers.

Russian Center in Istanbul

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