Rubinstein was born in Łódź, Congress Poland (part of the Russian Empire for the entire time Rubinstein resided there) on January 28, 1887, to a Jewish family. He was the youngest of seven children of Felicja Blima Fajga (née Heiman) and Izaak Rubinstein. His father owned a small textile factory. Rubinstein's birth name was to be Leo, but his eight...

​Katsaris was born in Marseilles, France. Katsaris first began to play the piano when he was four, in Cameroon where he grew up. His first teacher was Marie-Gabrielle Louwerse. He studied piano at the Paris Conservatoire with Aline van Barentzen and Monique de la Bruchollerie, who had been a pupil of Emil von Sauer – one of Franz Liszt's favourite ...