 After graduating from the children's school, he continued studying at the Conservatory with Moisey Khalfin.At 12, he gave his first major recital in Moscow, in a concert of works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Liszt, Debussy and Shostakovich at the Philharmonic Society.At age 16, he came to international attention when the jury at the 1966 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition awarded him the gold medal.