Vladimir Horowitz, undoubtedly one of the most renowned names of the most renowned names of the 20th cent. grew up on the very fertile Ukrainian soil which produced great musicians by the dozen. His fellow-countrymen were Yasha Heifetz, David Oistrakh, Heinrich Neuhaus, Sviatoslav Richter, Alexander Silotti, Emil Gilels, Isaac Stern, Leonid Kogan and many others. Yes, these famous musicians were all born here in Ukraine and got their musical start here.
Family Horowitz reads like history of Kyiv at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th cent. Samuel and Sofia Horowitz (herself a graduate of the Kyiv Music School) had 4 children - Regina, Georg and Jacob and the youngest - Vladimir, born in 1903. They lived at Tarasivska 3. Vladimir's grandfather - Joachim - back in 1874 was member of the Executive Committe of the Kyiv Music Society and never missed a concert at the Court Assembly Hall which is now the Philharmonia! It is in this hall that the Horowitzes at the beginning of the 20th cent. were able to hear Josef Hoffman, Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmanininov, Ignaz Paderevski, Fritz Kreisler, Heinrich Neuhaus, Felix Blumenfeld, Sergei Prokoffiev (also born in Ukraine) Artur Schnabel. The Hall of Columns of the Philharmkonia was host to Ferenz Liszt, Henryk Wieniawski, Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein, Leopold Auer, Leopold Godovsky.
The list is just unending.
Todays Philharmonia was a great concert hall - as it is today - worthy of the worlds top artists who played there, but it is the Kyiv Music School - the oldest professional school in Ukraine - that produced these fantastic musicians. As far back as the 16th cent. the Kyiv Council employed a military band and the musicians learned to play from each other. But in 1786 the Kyiv Council formally opened a Music School where besides music, the students also learned languages, history and math and based on this school a professional Music High School ("Uchylyshche") was founded in 1868 which in 1956 was named after Gliere. It is the same music institution who organized this competition, i.e. Gliere Music School (now High College) and it is 132 yrs. old!
Very tightly connected with the Kyiv High Music College was the Horowitz Family. Just to step back a little, in 1876, 2 outstanding pedagogues joined the KMSc, both having graduated from the St.Petersburg Conservatory, class of Teodor Leshetytskly, who had been a student of Carl Czerny. They were Volodymyr Pukhalsky and Hryhoriy Khodorovskyi.
In 1886 Yelysaveta Horowitz (perhaps another daughter of Joakhim, i.e. an aunt of Vladimir) joined Pukhalsky's class who later graduated with honors. In 1888 Sofia Bodyk, future mother of Vladimir joins the Pukhalsky class In 1891 Alexander Horowitz together with Rheihold Gliere appear in Khodorovskys class. (Gliere at a later date became Director of the Conservatory and even later Regina and Vladimir Horowitz studied chamber ensemle with Gliere.) In 1911 Konstantyn Mykhaylov, a student of Pukhalsky, began to teach Regina Horowitz. And 2 yrs. later Samuel Horowitz petitiones the KMSh to admit his son Vladimir into Pukhalskys class. And finally in 1914 Georg and Jacob Horowitz join as well.
In retrospect, the whole Horowitz family studied at the KMSh: mother, uncle, sister, both brothers and Vladimir himself.
In 1986 at the age 83 Vladimir Horowitz returned to concertize in Moscow and St. Petersburg - but never made it in to Kyiv as April 1986 was Chornobyl time in Kyiv.
Sister Regina settled in Kharkiv and taught for 50 yrs. - developing a simply wondrous school of "Horowitz piano playing" that today - its second generation already, produces winner after winner - simply flooding various piano competitions.
