Max Rabinoff papers, 1908-1961

Musical impresario, international economist.

Max Rabinoff was born in Moghilev, Russia on March 9 1877. He immigrated to the United States in 1892 and was naturalized in 1898. He began his career as an employee of the Kimball Piano Store eventually becoming the owner of three piano stores of his own. In 1908 he left the musical instrument business to organize musical events for the general public. He initiated Sunday Concerts in Chicago and helped organize the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Opera Company. In 1910 Rabinoff presented an opera season for the Mexican Republic's centennial celebration at the invitation of the Mexican Government. Rabinoff was instrumental in introducing Russian artists to the American public including Anna Pavlova the Russian Imperial Court Balalaika Orchestra and the Ukrainian National Chorus. From 1914 to 1917 he was the managing director of the Boston Opera Company featuring Anna Pavlova and her Russian Ballet Company. In 1922 Rabinoff founded the American Institute for Operatic and Allied Arts at Stony Brook on the Hudson to encourage the development of American talent.

Rabinoff at the age of 21 organized the American-Russian Importing and Exporting Company. In 1917 he attended the Paris Peace Conference where he was made economic advisor to the Republics of Estonia Georgia and Azerbaijan. He was a continuous advocate of economic trade with the Soviet Union and established a business to advise the American Government and American companies on trade with Russia and its satellites. He continued his interest in music encouraging young talent and establishing the Cosmopolitan Opera Company in New York in 1942-1943 to bring opera to the public at affordable prices. and

Rabinoff married his discovery, the singer Marie La Salle on March 22 1910. Following her death in 1912 he married Helene Gaubert on May 16 1913. Max Rabinoff died in 1966.