Vladimir Horowitz

Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was born on October 1, 1903, in Berdichev (near Kiev), Ukraine (then Russian Empire). His father, named Simeon Horowitz, was an electrical engineer. His mother, named Sophie Horowitz, was a professional pianist and teacher at the Kiev Conservatory. Young Vladimir Horowitz took his first piano lessons from his mother. At the age of 9 he entered the Kiev Conservatory where he studied with Vladimir Puchalsky, Sergei Tarnowsky, and Felix Blumenfeld. At the age of 11 he met and played with Aleksandr Skryabin. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1920 with the performance of the Piano Concerto No. 3 by Sergei Rachmaninoff. By that time his family was devastated by the purges of the Russian Revolution. All of their property, including the piano, was seized by the Bolsheviks. Horowitz performed extensively in Kharkov, Kiev, Moscow, and Leningrad, acquiring a reputation as a virtuoso. In Leningrad alone he gave 23 concerts in 1922, being paid with food instead of