Svyatoslav Richter

Svyatoslav Richter, one of the greatest pianist of the 20th century who was largely self-taught, had survived traumatic events and restrictions on his concert tours during the Soviet era and was widely recognized as the leading pianist of his time. He was born Svyatoslav Teofilovich Richter on March 20, 1915, in Zhitomir, Russian Empire (now Zhitomir, Ukraine). Young Richter grew up in Odessa, He took some music lessons from his organist father, but remained largely self-taught and practiced his piano rigorously. He was an excellent sight-reader, and was hired as accompanist at opera rehearsals at Odessa Conservatory and Odessa Opera House. At the age of 22 Richter was already an accomplished pianist; he was admitted to Moscow Conservatory without an entrance exams, because his talent was so obvious to Heinrich Neuhaus, the Chair of piano. While a student at the Moscow Conservatory Richter performed the 5th Piano Concerto by Sergei Prokofiev - to a sensational success. Richter was not