Virtuoso classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz (1903–1989) was born on this day in Kiev—then part of the Russian Empire, now Ukraine. Taught first by his mother, an accomplished pianist, Horowitz’s ear for tone color and drama shaped a lifetime on the world’s great stages.

After studies with Sergei Tarnowsky and Felix Blumenfeld, Horowitz debuted at 17. Nicknamed the “electric lightning pianist,” he cultivated a unique flatter-finger approach to control the color and attack of each note—an approach that made his octaves crackle and his singing lines glow.

Leaving his homeland in 1925 for Berlin and then the United States, every recital became an event. “When I am on the stage, I’m a king,” he once said. “No one can interfere with me because I have something to do, and it has to be the best which is within me.”

Inspired by the drama and brilliance of Franz Liszt, Horowitz played with the focused fire one critic called “controlled thunder.” With unmatched execution and fearless spontaneity, he played from the heart and became an international sensation.

His romantic repertory included Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto and Chopin’s Ballade in G minor. Audiences were mesmerized by the strength and nuance of his performances—his talent inspired generations of pianists.

In 1986, after six decades away, Horowitz returned for emotional concerts in Moscow and Leningrad—triumphant homecomings that rekindled memories and connected him to listeners who had waited a lifetime.