Sergei Eduardovich Bortkiewicz was born in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on 28 February 1877. His background and musical training mirror that of many of his contemporaries. His mother was an accomplished pianist and co-founder of the Kharkov Music School, affiliated to the Imperial Russian Music Society where Bortkiewicz was to have his early training. He studied piano there with Albert Bensch and early influences included Anton Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky, both of whom visited the school and took part in concerts there. Bortkiewicz described himself as a romantic and a melodist, and he had an emphatic aversion for what he called modern, atonal, and "cacophonous" music. Like Medtner, the essential characteristics of his style were already present in his earliest compositions, from around 1906, although his later music is more personal, poetic and nostalgic. Melody, harmony and structure were essential building blocks for his musical creations. His training with van Ark, Liadov, Jadassohn, Piutti and Reisenauer ingrained a rigorous professionalism. His colourful and delicate imagination, his idiomatic piano-writing and sensitivity to his musical ideas, combined with his undisputed gift for melody, result in a style that is instantly recognizable, attractive and appealing to many listeners.