tarnowsky was born in kharkiv. visiting musicians often visited the family home and sergei showed an interest in the piano at an early age. at the age of eight he studied privately with henryk bobinski, a graduate of the warsaw conservatory. at age 19 he commenced studies with anna yesipova at the st. petersburg conservatory. the director of the conservatory was alexander glazunov, whose stepdaughter tarnowsky later married. on graduation, tarnowsky received a gold medal and the anton rubinstein prize.