Anton Rubinstein

Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894), Russian pianist and composer, born in Vikhvatinetz, Bessarabia (now part of Moldova). He was trained in Moscow, where he gave his first public concert at the age of ten, and later studied in Berlin. He toured widely as a pianist and greatly influenced Russian musical culture. In 1862 he founded the Imperial Conservatory of Music in St Petersburg. Although his numerous musical compositions include operas, orchestral works, songs, and piano concertos, he is best known today for his small piano pieces, such as “Melody in F” (1859) and “Kamennoi Ostrow” (Kamennoi Easter, 1859), which mainly imitated Western models.

His brother, Nicholas Rubinstein, was also a celebrated pianist.