アレクサンドル・ジロティ
Sverjensky was born in Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire, in 1901. He started piano lessons at age 12. From age 14, he studied at the Petrograd Conservatory under Alexander Glazunov. (Some sources say he studied under Sergei Rachmaninoff or Alexander Siloti.) He also studied law at Tomsk.