Told in strict confidence, Nemirovich confessed to Knipper and Meierhold that he and Stanislavski were planning the creation of a new theatre company. Nemirovich introduced Knipper and fellow student Vsevolod Meierhold (who would later become one of the most prominent figures of Russian theatre after the Revolution) to Constantin Stanislavski. With the help of her reluctant mother, Olga enrolled at the Philharmonic School, where she was taught by the future co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. She enrolled briefly into the Maly Theatre's drama school, although she dropped out one month later. Going ahead with her intentions without her mother's approval and giving up her social circle relations was a sacrifice Olga was willing to make: "Whenever in my life I really wanted something, and really believed in the possibility of achieving what I wanted and acted energetically, I always succeeded and never regretted going my own way", she wrote. Olga's hopes of becoming a successful stage actress had not yet diminished. They also dismissed four of their five servants, and moved into a smaller flat.
Olga and her mother both began giving music and singing lessons to make ends meet. In 1894, Olga's father died unexpectedly, leaving the 25-year-old and her mother troubled by the outstanding debts he left behind from living well beyond their means. Her mother, Anna Ivanovna, though very talented as a singer and pianist, was also forced to give up any hopes of pursuing a professional career in the arts and felt that Olga had to do the same. Her father, however, who was anxious to conform to the social conventions of his adopted country, made it very clear at an early age that Olga's aspirations in life should be confined to marrying well and becoming a house-wife. Olga showed considerable promise as a painter and was her own accompanist on the piano when she entertained friends and family at dinner parties. She attended a private school for girls, was fluent in French, German, and English, and took music and singing lessons after rigorous schooling days.
Growing up in between her two brothers, Konstantin and Vladimir, Olga was pampered extensively. Two years after Olga was born, her family moved to Moscow, where they became accustomed to an upper-middle-class lifestyle. Around the time of Olga's birth, her father, Leonard, was in charge of a factory in a small town north-east of European Russia called Glazov. Though both of her parents were of German origin, her father wasted no time in claiming Russia as their family heritage. Olga Leonardovna Knipper was born on the 21 September 1868 in Glazov to Leonard and Anna Knipper.
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