Alexander Siloti short biography

Alexander Siloti was regarded as an outstanding Russian pianist, teacher and composer. The great composers including Arensky, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky dedicated many of their works to Siloti. Siloti’s teachers at the Moscow Conservatory were Zverev, Nikolai Rubinstein, Taneyev, Tchaikovsky and Hubert. Having won the Gold Medal upon his graduation, Siloti assisted Liszt in Weimar and was a co-founder of the Liszt-Verein in Leipzig. In 1887 Siloti was appointed professor of the Moscow Conservatory and taught Goldenweiser, Maximov and Rachmaninov. Siloti was on a concert tour in the United States where he premiered the Rachmaninov’s C-sharp Minor Prelude. In 1925, Siloti was appointed professor of the Juilliard School. In 1930, Siloti was a soloist in the all-Liszt concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini.