Nicholas Stember, son of the artist Viktor Karlovich Stember

Viktor Stember never painted a oil painting of his only son, Nicholas.  This unfinished sketch resides with the family and shows great detail in pencil on paper. Nicholas was 26 years old here.

Nicholas was in the Lyceum of Crown Prince Nicholas through second grade at which time he showed great promise to be a pianist.  He was placed in the Conservatory and practiced 6-8 hours every day.  He was also taken to Stembers cousin, the composer Nicholas Medtner who was very fond of Nicholas and gave him lessons. 

 In 1908 the family moved to St. Petersburg and Nicholas joined in The Conservatory class of the famous Essipova, but still made regular monthly trips to Moscow for lessons with Medtner.  After Essipova's death in 1914, it was decided that he should join the Moscow Conservatory and graduate from the class of Medtner.  Two years of intense work from his uncle made him ready to graduate. In the Spring of 1917 Nicholas celebrated his great triumph playing his long, hard program and was awarded the Gold Medal.

In Gr. Grandmothers Memoirs, page 105, it is noted that a friend of Nicholas' was the composer Prokofiev and they remained friends with Prokofiev visiting Nicholas often in New York.

Nicholas became a teacher at the Borovka Music school and endured the hardships of the revolution until he and two friends planned an escape.  Using falsified signatures and seals, they were able to reach Constantinople, Turkey where Nicholas' talent as a pianist was recognized , a concert arranged for him and that exposure gave him a large number of pupils and he could support himself.  In 1921 Natasha, his sister, sent him an affidavit and money to join her in New York.

Nicholas enjoyed much success as a teacher and although his talent was great, even performing at the White House for Warren Harding on May 4, 1922, Nicholas was happiest teaching students and would only occasionally perform publicly.