Born in 1891 in Kiev, Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) to a musician father, Hmelnitsky trained at the Moscow Conservatory and performed at the court of Tsar Nicholas II.
He worked as the musical director for the famous dancer Anna Pavlova and was a founding member of the Moscow Trio.
[1] Following the Russian Revolution, Alexander and his family left for Asia where he opened a music academy in Shanghai, China, and later moved on to Java, Indonesia, where his eldest son the distinguished pianist Igor Hmelnitsky (1920–1987) was born.
[1][2] His pedagogical specialty was the Russian Romantic school and the traditional teaching methods of the Moscow Conservatory.
[3] Alexander Hmelnitsky died on 25 January 1965 at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, NSW and was buried in the Russian Orthodox tradition.