Vitaly Margulis (Виталий Маргулис) was born in the city of Kharkiv in the Ukraine. He took his first piano lessons from his father, whose teacher studied with the composer Alexander Scriabin. Margulis continued studies at the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Conservatory, where from 1958 until his emigration to the west in 1974, he taught piano. In 1975, Margulis became a full Professor at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, Germany. In 1994, he became Professor of Piano at the University of California in Los Angeles. Read more on Last.fm