In 1918, Mischa, already at seventeen a virtuoso pianist, and his older brother, accomplished violinist Vassily Portnoff, embarked on a concert tour of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and England. Crossing the Atlantic, they performed throughout Canada and the United States. The brothers’ musical aspirations eventually led them to New York City, the then-uncontested hub of American musical creativity. Leo, their father, had emigrated to the U.S. in 1922, where he taught in New York for eleven years before becoming a professor of violin and composition at the University of Miami in Florida.Obituary, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, N.Y. Nov.8, 1940
