Gilels began piano studies at the age of 6 and gave his first public concert in 1929 at the age of 13. In 1933 he gained top honors in the first All-Union Musicians Contest. After graduating from the Odessa Conservatory in 1935, he moved to Moscow for further study with Heinrich Neuhaus. In 1938 he won first prize at the Ysa˙e International Festival in Brussels and was appointed professor at the Moscow Conservatory. After World War II he toured outside the Soviet Union, and his debuts in New York City (1955) and London (1959) were greatly acclaimed. Although the works of Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and especially Ludwig van Beethoven came to form the core of his repertoire, Gilels also played those of Johann Sebastian Bach, Béla Bartók, and Soviet composers.