Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840 in Kamsko-Votkinsk, Vyatka, Russia. He was the second eldest of his parents' six surviving offspring!

He started trying his hand in music at age 5, with the piano. At age 10 he attended the Imperial School of Jurisprudence, a boarding school in St. Petersburg so he could fulfill his parents' dream of him being in civil service.

When he was 21 years old, he started taking music lesson at the Russian Musical Society, and enrolled at the newly founded St. Petersburg conservatory a few months later. He ended up giving private lessons to the other students while he was there.