The name of Russia’s greatest composer evokes the entire musical heritage of Russia itself.

Tchaikovsky may be well known, but he has been treated with such reverence that much of what we know is a combination of romance and pure fantasy.

Who is the man behind the music and the myth?
For our answer we rely on André Lischke, a musicologist and one of the world’s leading Tchaikovsky experts.

We travel to Moscow and St. Petersburg to trace the life of one of the world’s greatest musical talents.

Along the way we meet a cast of modern-day musicians, teachers and dancers like Alex Prior, who at the tender age of 14 conducts Tchaikovsky symphonies at the St Petersburg Conservatory.