Ossip Gabrilowitsch was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. A musical prodigy, he studied piano in Vienna under Theodor Leschetizky. In 1898, he met his teacher’s new pupil Clara Clemens, and a lengthy courtship ensued. In 1905 Gabrilowitsch moved to Berlin to study conducting with Arthur Nikisch. Gabrilowitsch and Clara were married at Samuel’s house Stormfield in 1909, and their only child Nina was born there in 1910. On the outbreak of World War One, the Germans arrested Gabrilowitsch as an enemy national, but friends procured his release. The Gabrilowitsches moved to the United States in 1914, where he gained fame both as pianist and conductor. He became music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1918. Cancer of the stomach forced him into retirement in 1935 and he died the next year. Ossip is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Elmira, New York next to Clara and his daughter Nina.