Igor Levit Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Shostakovich artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Dmitri Shostakovich
The debut album by the Aizuri Quartet is called Blueprinting. David Stith/New Amsterdam Records hide caption
Yevgeny Yevtushenko, standing next to his poem 'Babi Yar' during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem in 2007. Menahem Kahana-Pool/Getty Images hide caption
Confronting Anti-Semitism In Russia, In Words And Then Music
Conductor Mariss Jansons led the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall Wednesday in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, "Leningrad." AJ Wilhelm for NPR hide caption
The 'Leningrad' Symphony At Carnegie Hall
Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich's once brilliant career took a dive after the official party paper criticized one of his operas in 1936. Shostakovich responded with his powerful Fifth Symphony. Central Press/Getty Images hide caption
Citizens of Leningrad collect water from a broken main in the winter of 1942, during a blockade of the Russian city by Nazis. AP hide caption
Music can be like a fleeting summer. You get to the end wondering, "How did we get here already?" iStockphoto hide caption
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) presents the "Hero of Labour" award to conductor Valery Gergiev, head of the Mariinsky Theatre. AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (left), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (center), and Speaker of the House John Boehner are three key lawmakers in the government shut down and debt ceiling crisis. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption
Conductor Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra gave the final performance in this year's Spring for Music Festival at Carnegie Hall on May 11, 2013. The program was of all 20th-century Russian music: Shchedrin's Slava, Slava; Schnittke's Viola Concerto; and Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. Torsten Kjellstrand for NPR hide caption
Spring For Music: National Symphony Orchestra At Carnegie Hall
Audio is no longer available
Yannick Nezet-Seguin leads the Philadelphia Orchestra, in concert at Carnegie Hall. Torsten Kjellstrand/NPR hide caption
The Philadelphia Orchestra At Carnegie Hall
Audio is no longer available
Soprano Galina Vishnevskaya was once caleld the "Russian Maria Callas" for her intense interpretations. Capitol Records, Inc, courtesy of EMI Classics hide caption
The Houston Symphony and conductor Hans Graf presented an all-Shostakovich evening for their evening at the Spring for Music festival at Carnegie Hal on May 7, 2012. They played two rarely heard works in powerful performances: the bitingly satirical Anti-Formalist Rayok, with soloist Mikhail Svetlov (pictured), as well as the gargantuan Symphony No. 11. Torsten Kjellstrand/Torsten Kjellstrand for NPR hide caption
The Pavel Haas Quartet live at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall on April 27, 2012. Melanie Burford for NPR hide caption
Dmitri Shostakovich, 1960. Erich Auerbach/Getty Images hide caption
The Russian Winnie the Pooh: Vinny Pookh. 'Vinny Pookh' hide caption
Conductor Kurt Sanderling was a friend of composer Dmitri Shostakovich, and a champion of his music. YouTube hide caption
Dmitri Shostakovich topped our informal "who's the most badass composer" poll. Roger Rosing/Wikimedia/Deutshe Fotothek hide caption
The young Prokofiev: Did Congress inadvertently make his music much harder to hear live? Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
Your weekly classical music news fix. Guillermo Perales/iStock hide caption
The Toledo Symphony Orchestra makes its long-awaited Carnegie Hall debut Saturday night. The orchestra will be joined by 1,400 of its hometown fans. Toledo Symphony Orchestra hide caption
Fred Child Talks With Andre Previn
The 18-year-old Shostakovich, photographed June 28, 1925, two days before he completed his Symphony No. 1. Courtesy of Naxos Records hide caption