Par 1 MOISSAYE BOGUSLAWSKI was born in Chicago, in 1888 [1887?], of Russian parentage. His father and grandfather, both musicians, were victims of Russian political rigor and fled to America to escape further persecution. His mother also was musical and her youthful ambition was to become an opera singer. When her son was born she transferred her ambition to him, hoping and praying that he would become a real musician. When he was four years old she persuaded his father to buy an old square piano, and he began to take lessons — one lesson a week, at fifty cents each, which was all the family could afford. The period of his childhood and youth was a dire struggle with poverty, which he won through only by his own dogged perseverance.

Par 2 When ten years old he began to go with his father to play at weddings. At 15 he was playing the piano in one of Chicago's cheap dance halls for from eight to twelve hours at a stretch — meanwhile keeping up his practice at home. A little later he managed, by doing without everything but the bare necessities of life, to take some lessons from Rudolph Ganz, who was then sojourning in Chicago for a time — the only really worth-while instruction he ever had.

Par 3 Having already done a good deal of teaching, he obtained when 20 years old an appointment as head of the piano department of the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. While holding that position he began to give recitals, and gradually his reputation as an exceptionally able pianist spread throughout the Middle West and Southwest. In 1916 he made his first visit to the East and won glowing tributes from the leading critics in New York, Boston, and other cities. Since then he has appeared as soloist with many of the best orchestras and has concertized throughout the country with steadily growing acclaim. He is now professor of piano playing in the Chicago Musical College.