He was born at the Krivyakino Estate in the Russian Empire (now part of Voskresensk), the son of Mikhail and Maria (Schneidmann) Padwa.
Padwa and Alexandra divorced in 1946, and he married Natalie Joy Lozier (1926–1986)) on 18 December 1947 in Stamford, Connecticut.
[1] He gave concerts throughout Europe, and in collaboration with the Neo-Bechstein company, he was director of and a performer in the first broadcast of all-electronic music from Berlin, in 1932.
Before ending his contract in 1933, he performed regularly in radio broadcasts and gave the first live solo piano broadcast of electronic music in the U.S. His concert career included a seven-year association as accompanist to violinist Mischa Elman,[2] with whom he made four successful world tours to five continents from 1934 to 1940.
[1][3] In the 1930s and 1940s Padwa also participated in the Maverick Concert Hall music series in Woodstock, New York.
In 1941, along with pianists Adam Garner, Frank Mittler, and Edward Edson, he founded the nationally acclaimed First Piano Quartet.