His mother, Rakhel Gershoig was from Chisinäu. After winning second prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition and first prize at the Vianna da Motta International Music Competition (ex-aequo with Nelson Freire), and especially after hisvictory at the fourthInternational Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (first prize ex-aequo with John Lill), his career as a pianist began. He performed with some of the world's leading orchestras and conductors, and collaborated with renowned artists throughout the world. Alfred Schnittke dedica- ted one of his piano concertos to him. International music festivals known as "The Invitation of Vladimir Krainev" were held each year in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, and concerts called "Vladimir Krainev: his Friends and Pupils" were given annually at the Moscow Conservatory. Krainev was a jury member of many international piano competitions, for instance: Leeds, Lisbon, and Tokyo, as well as the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Vladimir Kraine was a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany, where 29 young pianists from the People's Republic of China, France, Germany, Korea, Russia, Ukraine, and other countries studied with him. Among his students were Katia Skanavi, Vladimir Sverdlov, Igor Tchetuev, Liuben Dimitrov, Pascal Godart, Alexandre Moutouzkine, Irma Issakadze, Denys Proshayev, Hisako Kawamura, and others.