Alexander Borovsky
Alexander Borovsky (Alexander Kirillovich Borovsky; 18 March 1889 – 27 April 1968) was a Russian-American pianist and music teacher. He was born in Jelgava and began playing the piano in early childhood, starting regular lessons at the age of seven with his mother, a former pupil of Vasily Safonov. He graduated with distinction from the Liepāja Gymnasium in 1907.
Although music was not his principal pursuit in his youth, Borovsky was deeply interested in law. He studied piano with Anna Yesipova at the St. Petersburg Conservatory while attending lectures at the law faculty of St. Petersburg University, from which he also graduated with distinction. In 1910 he received an honorary mention at the Rubinstein Competition. He completed the conservatory with a gold medal in 1912 and was awarded the Rubinstein Prize, a Schröder grand piano.
Borovsky subsequently undertook major concert tours in Russia, appearing in Tbilisi, Baku, Saratov, and Kharkiv. He taught at the Moscow Conservatory as a professor from 1915 to 1920. In 1920 he gave twenty successful concerts in Tbilisi, and by the spring of 1921 he was performing in Serge Koussevitzky’s Paris concerts. He later toured internationally and made numerous recordings, receiving the Grand Prix in Paris in 1936 for the best recording. From 1927, for ten years, he returned almost annually to perform in Moscow and Leningrad, while also giving yearly concerts in Riga and Liepāja.
His repertoire ranged from eighteenth-century composers including Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, and Couperin to such contemporary Russian composers as Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Prokofiev, and Nikolai Myaskovsky; he also loved Chopin’s music. He was noted for learning new works with exceptional speed, reportedly mastering Balakirev’s Islamey in five days. His performances were praised for their virtuoso technique, noble style, considered phrasing, and carefully judged pedaling. Alongside his concert activity, he presented public lecture-recitals and gave survey and research lectures on composers, musical periods, and styles.
From 1940 Borovsky lived permanently in the United States, where he continued to perform and record extensively. When his concert activity diminished in 1956, he became a professor at Boston University. His pupils included Eugene Indjic. Borovsky died on 27 April 1968 in Woburn, Massachusetts, and was buried at Newton Cemetery.