Mieczysław Weinberg (8 December 1919 – 26 February 1996) was a Polish-born Soviet composer and pianist. He was born in Warsaw to parents who worked in Yiddish theatre, and his early environment was strongly influenced by music. At the age of 12 he began formal musical training and later studied piano at the Warsaw Conservatory. In 1939 he fled Warsaw following the German invasion of Poland at the beginning of the Second World War. Members of his family who remained in Poland were later murdered at the Trawniki concentration camp. Read more on Last.fm