Starting in 1904, Sergei Prokofiev spent nearly ten years as a student at the St Petersburg Conservatoire. He studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov and Liadov, and wrote many of his early works there, including some that have become repertoire standards.

The first of these that he acknowledged was his First Piano Sonata, op.1. Like Medtner and Rachmaninov, Prokofiev left Russia after the Revolution and spent years in self-imposed exile as a travelling virtuoso. But he never wholly lost touch with his friends in Moscow and Leningrad, and eventually returned in the early 1930s to live permanently in the USSR, where he brought perhaps his finest music to fruition, despite the difficulties and frustrations imposed by state censorship and ideological criticism. His nine piano sonatas (two more were sketched but never completed) constitute the backbone of his copious output for piano.

Russian pianist, Ilya Yakushev, with many awards and honours to his credit, continues to astound and mesmerize audiences at major venues on three continents. His three-concert series at the San Francisco Symphony’s Prokofiev Festival under Michael Tilson Thomas was named one of the 'Top 10 Classical Music Events of 2007' by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Mr Yakushev attended the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music in his native St Petersburg, Russia, and subsequently came to New York City to attend Mannes College of Music where he studied with Dr Arkady Aronov and later with legendary pianist Vladimir Feltsman. In addition to his performing career, Mr Yakushev is presently serving as Executive Director of the International Keyboard Institute & Festival at Mannes, a position he has held since 2002.