Ariel Alfred Rubstein, né Rubshteyn, was born in what is now Kiev, Ukraine, in 1899 or 1901. He and a sister, born two years apart, were registered as twins after his birth. Rubstein was never certain whether his birth year was 1899 or 1901, but used 1901 on official documents. As a child, he studied music at the Kiev Conservatory. In 1919, he left Kiev during the Russian Revolution. He traveled first to Constantinople, Turkey (now Istanbul), and applied for a visa to the United States. It was denied, and he spent the next several years traveling and playing music in Europe. Eventually, he received word that his visa had been approved, and he arrived in New York, New York, in 1922. He spent the next 14 years as a concert pianist and music instructor in New York. In 1936, he relocated to Portland, Oregon. The next year, he and Margaret Eleanor Reed were married; they later had three children. He was director of the Portland School of Music and helped to develop the Opera in the Park program. He founded the Portland Civic Opera and West Coast Opera Theater. In 1959, he founded Celebrity Attractions, which produced concerts, operas, and musicals in Portland. He died in 1997.