Vladimir Horowitz

Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989), Russian-American pianist, one of the best-known concert artists of the 20th century. Born and trained in Kiev, Ukraine, Horowitz made his debut in 1921 and in 1928 appeared for the first time in London and New York. His United States debut caused a sensation, as audiences and critics responded to the power, technical prowess, and tonal mastery of his playing. Horowitz performed widely despite periodic withdrawals from public view (1936-1938, 1953-1965, 1968-1974, 1983-1985). In the 1960s and 1970s he acquired a large and adulatory following, and his concerts—fewer than 20 a year and held only in certain cities and concert halls—were regularly sold out. His highly publicized comeback in the mid-1980s was crowned by a tour of the Soviet Union, where he performed for the first time in 61 years. Praised especially for his performances of the works of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt and the Russian composers Sergei Rachmaninov and Aleksandr Scriabin, Horowitz himself composed dazzling paraphrases of the opera Carmen and of the march Stars and Stripes Forever.