About Me
The eminent piano virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz, was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, on Oct. 1 , 1903. He was an internationally renowned performer for nearly seven decades. He recieved his early training from his mother, an accomplished pianist herself, and early inspiration from none other than Alexander Scriabin, a friend and teacher of his uncle. Trained at the conservatory at Kiev, he became an accomplished pianist but preferred composing his own music to performing. He studied with Sergei Tarnowski, then Felix Blumenfeld, making his debut at the age of 17 in Khar'kov, Ukraine, in 1922. His success as a pianist in the new Soviet Union was assured by a series of 23 recitals in Leningrad in 1924. In these he performed a total of more than 200 works. After his family lost most of its possessions in the Russian Revolution, including the piano, he began giving piano recitals in exchange for food and clothing. In 1925 he went on a concert tour of Europe. Very successful in Europe, he made his American debut in 1928 in Carnegie Hall, playing Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto with the New York Philharmonic. Horowitz considered his true American debut when he met Sergei Rachmaninoff and played Rachmaninoff's own two piano arrangement of his Third Concerto. They immediately became close friends. In 1933, he married Wanda Toscanini, daughter of the conductor, Arturo Toscanini. Seven years later, after the outbreak of World War II in Europe, they settled in the United States, and in 1944 he became a United States citizen. Exhausted from strenuous concertizing, he retired in 1953. He continued making records, but returned in 1965 to perform in Carnegie Hall. Horowitz was always interested in how the young people felt about him and whether or not they knew who he was. He was a lifelong champion of the music of some lesser known composers such as Muzio Clementi, Domenico Scarlatti, and Alexander Scriabin. He was featured in a film documentary entitled 'Vladimir Horowitz: the Last Romantic'. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom (the highest award that can be bestowed upon a US civilian.) in 1986, and in that same year he made the grand gesture of his career by returning to the USSR, from which he had left in 1925, for a series of sold-out performances. His last public performances were in Germany in the spring of 1987. He died in New York City on Nov. 5, 1989.
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