Composer, Pianist, Conductor. Born in Novgorod, Russia, he was the son of amateur musicians who encouraged him to pursue that art as a career. In 1879 the family moved to St. Petersburg so he could study with Rimsky-Korsakov at its conservatory; he graduated with a gold medal in 1882 and was immediately hired as a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, where he was the youngest member of the faculty. His students would include Sergei Rachmaninov and Alexander Scriabin. Arensky was conductor of Moscow's Russian Choral Society (1888 to 1895) and director of the Imperial Chapel in St. Petersburg (1895 to 1901), before devoting himself to touring as a pianist and conductor. He died of tuberculosis at 44, the consequences of a dissolute lifestyle. Arensky has been consigned to minor status because of his perceived lack of a strong individual style. He was essentially a miniaturist with a gift for beguiling melody, and there are flaws in all his larger compositions. Towards the end he was better known as a concert performer and his once-popular music was disparaged. Rimsky-Korsakov offered a cruel eulogy: "In his youth Arensky did not escape some influence from me; later the influence came from Tchaikovsky. He will quickly be forgotten". This was true for decades, but since the 1980s there has been renewed interest in his work that continues to this day. His "Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovksy" for string orchestra (1894) and the Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor (1894) have found their way into the standard repertory, and much of his output has been recorded. Arensky's other opuses include a Piano Concerto (1881), two symphonies (1883, 1889), a Violin Concerto (1891), two string quartets and several suites for solo piano, notably the Suite No. 2, "Silhouettes" (1892).