Mykola Leontovych
Mykola Leontovych specialised in a cappella choral music. He is remembered today mostly through the musical works he left behind, which include over 150 choral compositions. These range from artistic arrangements of folk songs, religious works (including his liturgy), cantatas, and choral compositions set to the words of various Ukrainian poets. His two most famous works are the choral miniatures "Schedryk" and "Dudaryk".
Sergei Prokofiev
A graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatory, Prokofiev initially made his name as an iconoclastic composer-pianist, achieving notoriety with a series of ferociously dissonant and virtuosic works for his instrument, including his first two piano concertos. In 1915, Prokofiev made a decisive break from the standard composer-pianist category with his orchestral "Scythian Suite", compiled from music originally composed for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev commissioned three further ballets from Prokofiev—"Chout," "Le pas d'acier" and "The Prodigal Son"—which at the time of their original production all caused a sensation among both critics and colleagues. Prokofiev's greatest interest, however, was opera, and he composed several works in that genre, including "The Gambler" and "The Fiery Angel". Prokofiev's one operatic success during his lifetime was "The Love for Three Oranges," composed for the Chicago Opera and subsequently performed over the following decade in Europe and Russia.