Taken from Mikhnovsky's website:
Isaac Mikhnovsky was born in Smolensk on April 17, 1914. He grew up at the time of World War I and Civil War, the Revolution, and the destruction that followed. His childhood was also darkened by the sudden death of his father when the boy was only four years old.
Isaac's phenomenal musical talent was evident from very early childhood. The only valuable possession that the family owned was an old piano, in front of which the child spent many hours playing by ear and improvising. On one occasion, a well-known piano teacher, Evgenia Il'inichna Gurevich-Aaghes, who was living in Smolensk at that time, walked by the open windows while he was playing. She was intrigued by the sounds of music and came into the house. This meeting determined to a large degree the future of the pianist.
Isaac's musical studies began under the guidance of Gurevich-Aaghes. The boy was developing determinedly as a pianist, and his first concerts at the former Assembly of Nobility Hall in Smolensk became a town sensation. When Isaac turned 10 years old, his beloved teacher moved to Moscow and took him with her. At first he was studying at the M. P. Mussorgsky Technical School, and later at the Gnesin School. His first years in Moscow had been extremely difficult: he didn't have a place to stay, and often spent nights in the same classrooms where he studied during the day. Not owning a piano, he had to learn the most difficult pieces without an instrument. This phenomenal quality of his was later observed by psychologists. Even to this day it is still mentioned in literature concerning the neurophysiology of memory. It also contributed to his brilliant ability to sight-read.
From this point on he also began to work: he accompanied in a ballet school, worked with singers, copied music at night, and at the same time practiced persistently. Despite the incredible difficulties of everyday life, he always worked hard trying to receive the most extensive education possible. His knowledge of literature, a delicate and sensitive perception of poetry, his love for painting (he himself possessed an exceptional artistic talent), often amazed the people who knew him well. His passionate enthusiasm for the theater lasted all his life; he especially loved MHAT [Moscow Art Theatre], where he had many friends among actors. Possessing refined knowledge of opera, Mikhnovsky later wrote many fantasies on opera themes.
At the age of 16, he entered the Moscow Conservatory as a student of L. N. Oborin and later, of K. N. Igumnov. Upon graduating from the Conservatory, Isaac Mikhnovsky continued his studies at the school of highest performance mastery. His name is present on the marble board at the Moscow Conservatory as part of the list of the most outstanding graduates, which begins with S. Rachmaninoff. It was indeed Mikhnovsky who was destined to become the first one from the USSR to perform the Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, which served as his final degree project. Rachmaninoff himself sent the score of this composition to Igumnov, and the professor gave the honor of premiering this masterpiece in Moscow to his outstanding student.
The fantasies on opera themes interested him both as a performer and as a composer. Among the opera transcriptions in his repertoire there were paraphrases and fantasies by Liszt on themes from operas by Verdi, Wagner, Gounod, Mozart, Meyerbeer. He thoroughly knew the works of such legendary creators of transcriptions as Busoni, Pabst, Tausig, and Godowsky. It is not surprising that while producing transcriptions of romances, the musician turned to operas of Russian composers. He created a number of piano fantasies on themes from such operas as Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades, Glinka's Ivan Susanin and Ruslan and Lyudmila, Dargomyzhsky's Rusalka, and Rubinstein's The Demon. These works were not previously published and remained until recently in manuscript form, although many performers knew about their existence and expressed great interest in them.
Isaac Mikhnovsky was very much interested in the artistry of contemporary composers, both Soviet and foreign. For instance, he was the first one in the USSR to perform a piano concerto by the Finnish composer Palmgren. His repertoire consisted of piano as well as chamber works of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Poulenc, Bartók, Hindemith, Szymanowski, Schnittke, and others. However, he always remained the closest to the works of Chopin, Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, and Debussy. He was also a wonderful master of the piano miniatures and recorded for the radio archive many compositions that were written in this genre by Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Dvořák, Rachmaninoff, and Rubinstein."
Here he plays Liszt's fantasy on Gounod's opera Romeo and Juliet, truly moving playing. If you'd like to hear more then check out his website! It is in Russian, so google translate will be your friend.
www.isaakmikhnovsky.com/