Andrew Hmelnitsky

Andrew Hmelnitsky is from the third generation in a line of Russian artists and musicians, who originally immigrated to Australia in the early 1940’s after the Japanese invasion of Java. Originally from Moscow, the family had already fled from the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 to China, where they set up shop in Shanghai, running the Conservatorium of Music. Then, due to the Japanese presence in China, they were forced to again flee.

Professor Alexander Hmelnitsky, Andrew”s grandfather, a Graduate of the Moscow Conservatorium, worked as Court musician to Czar Nicholas 2 of Russia and as musical director and accompanist to Anna Pavlova the famous Russian Ballerina. He was also a member of the The Moscow Trio, who toured extensively throughout Europe, China and Japan. When the family eventually arrived in Australia in 1941, Alexander took up a position at Palings, teaching the piano.

After his death in 1965 his obituary written by Kathleen Moodie in the Sydney Morning Herald said “ I think I speak for all of us when I say that such was Hmelnitsky’s method of imparting knowledge and his power of giving inspiration to others that in future years, as in the past, we shall still quote musical ideas and thoughts given to us by this v...