Dmitri Shostakovich

We're familiar with the image of Dmitri Shostakovich the doomed, tragic hero - his epic symphonies and cryptic musical messages battling a totalitarian regime. Yet...once upon a time, as a young man, he was a brilliant, fearless avant-garde composer - just one of a slew of daringly original musical voices in what was perhaps the world's most heady and exciting artistic melting pot at the time: 1920s Soviet Russia.