Василий Варшавский

Russian accordion player, orchestra leader, and choir director (1852-1920). Starting in 1890, Vasily S. Varshavsky was the musically trained director of a Moscow-based choir that before World War I recorded numerous Russian songs for labels such as Бека-Грандъ-Пластинка and Сирена Грандъ Рекордъ. Varshavsky also played the accordion, and in 1903 he founded an accordion ensemble, Оркестр "Гармония", that recorded dozens of pieces from 1903 to at least 1909.