Vladimir Horowitz was born on October 1, 1903, in Berdichev (near Kiev), Ukraine. His father 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 for Alexander Scriabin. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1920 with the performance of the Piano Concerto No. 3 by Rachmaninov.
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 money. He left Russia in 1925 and gave 69 concerts in Europe during the season of 1926-1927. He studied briefly with Alfred Cortot in Paris. Horowitz made his American debut in 1928 with the New York Philharmonic, playing the Piano Concerto No.1 by Tchaikovsky.
Here is the amazing Vladimir Horowitz in Schumann’s Kinderszenen:
