Maria Israilevna Grinberg was born on September 6, 1908, in Odessa, Russian Empire. Grinberg was a pianist who studied under David Aisberg, Felix Blumenfeld, and Konstantin Igumnov. In 1935, Grinberg won second prize at the Second All-Union Pianist Competition. Following political persecution in 1937, Grinberg worked as an accompanist for a choreography group and performed as a timpanist before being readmitted as a piano soloist after 1953. Grinberg performed international tours in the Netherlands and the Soviet bloc. In 1970, Grinberg became the first Russian pianist to release an integral recording of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas (1970). Despite vision loss caused by a brain tumor, Grinberg performed three piano concertos in one evening for a 50th birthday celebration. Grinberg taught at the Gnessin Institute of Music until she died on July 14, 1978, in Tallinn, Estonian SSR.
