He exposed composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and piano under Alexander Stein between 1881 and 1885. He so taught piano there himself from either 1885 until 1918, whilst besides serving when conductor of the Marinski theatre until 1911.

This theatre saw a premieres of the operas composed by his teacher & mentor Rimsky-Korsakov, and he was as well a conductor at a premier of Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde.

From either 1918 to 1922, he was the director of the conservatory of Kiev, where, amongst others, Vladimir Horowitz was a pupil around his masterclasses. He returned to the Moscow Conservatory in 1922, teaching there until his death.

As a piano player, he played several of the compositions of his Russian coeval. His compositions, which showed a influence of Frédéric Chopin and Peter Tchaikovsky, include a symphony, pieces for piano and lieder. His pure pieces for piano particularly come enjoying something of the renaissance within recent years.

de: Felix Michailowitsch Blumenfeld