Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer who started in public at the age of 9 in Berlin. He enrolled in the Singakademie music academy in 1819 and began writing nonstop. He also became a conductor at Singakademie while continuing to compose prolifically. In 1843, Mendelssohn established the Leipzig Conservatory of Music. Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany, and is a pianist, composer, and conductor. His parents were Jewish, but before he, his brother, and two sisters were born, they converted to Christianity. Mendelssohn moved to Berlin with his parents and siblings when he was two years old. Mendelssohn began piano lessons with Ludwig Berger in Berlin when he was a young boy. As a child, Mendelssohn studied composition with composer K.F. Zelter. During an extended stay in Paris, France, in 1816, he broadened his lessons by studying with pianist Marie Bigot.