Alexander Siloti was born on his father's estate near Kharkiv, Ukraine, during the time it was part of Imperial Russia. He started studying piano at the Moscow Conservatory in 1871 with Nikolai Zverev. From 1875, Siloti continued his piano studies under Nikolai Rubinstein, and also studied counterpoint with Sergei Taneyev, harmony with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and theory with Nikolai Hubert. These years laid the foundation for his musical education. After graduating, Siloti was sent to Weimar, Germany, on a scholarship to study with Franz Liszt. While there, he helped found the Liszt-Verein in Leipzig and made his professional debut in November 1883. He returned to Russia in 1887 and taught at the Moscow Conservatory, where some of his students were Alexander Goldenweiser, Leonid Maximov, and his cousin Sergei Rachmaninoff. During this time, Siloti also worked as an editor for Tchaikovsky’s piano concertos. Siloti was well known for his skill in making transcriptions, creating over 200 arrangements of various composers’ music. He also made orchestral editions of works by Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi. One of his most famous pieces is a transcription of a Bach prelude in B minor. Siloti left recordings on piano rolls and home-made discs. Besides his music, an archive of his materials was donated to Stanford University in 2014, including documents used for a biography and a collection of his piano works. Alexander Siloti is buried at the Russian Orthodox Convent Novo-Diveevo Cemetery in Nanuet, New York. His legacy continues through his transcriptions, editions, recordings, and the materials preserved for study and performance.