A composer with a modern and demanding repertoire, Ravel remains associated with
his most basic and most performed piece in the world, his famous Boléro. The son
of a Swiss engineer and a Basque mother, Joseph Maurice Ravel was born in
Ciboure on March 7, 1875. He was three years old when his parents moved to
Paris, and began piano lessons four years later with Henri Ghys, then harmony
with Charles René. After further lessons with Émile Descombes, he entered the
Paris Conservatoire in 1889, where his successive teachers were Eugène Anthiôme
and then Charles de Bériot (piano), Émi...