Mstislav Rostropovich was a renowned Russian cellist, pianist, conductor, pedagogue, and political figure. Born on March 27, 1927, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Soviet Union, he was the son of a notable musician and pedagogue of Polish nobility descent, and a concert pianist of Russian-Jewish heritage.
Rostropovich's teachers at the Moscow Conservatory were Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev, who became his main musical influences for life. He won the State Stalin's Prize in 1951 after his numerous victories at international competitions and a growing stream of recognition and acclaim.
In 1955, he married opera singer Galina Vishnevskaya, who was a member of the Bolshoi Theatre. His stage partners included Svyatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels, along with his wife Galina Vishnevskaya.
In 1969, Rostropovich saved his friend, dissident writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, from prosecution by providing him a secret place to hide at his dacha outside of Moscow. This angered the Soviet Communists, and Rostropovich was banned from international tours and royalties.
In 1974, after years of struggle with the Soviet dictatorship, Rostropovich fled the Soviet Union with his wife and two daughters, Olga and Elena. He became a much more relaxed person in exile, living the artistic freedom he had so longed for, and did not want to go back until the fall of the oppressive Soviet regime.
In 1977, Rostropovich was appointed Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) in Washington, DC, a post he kept for the next seventeen years. Soon after, his Soviet citizenship was revoked by Leonid Brezhnev in 1978.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Rostropovich enjoyed a very active concert career, touring extensively as a cellist, as well as an internationally acclaimed orchestra conductor and pedagogue. He also made numerous recordings of cello music and became recognized as arguably the world's best cellist of his time.
In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev restored Rostropovich's citizenship of Russia, allowing him to return home. His return happened during the most dramatic events of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. At that time, Rostropovich joined the Russian President Yeltsin during the August coup of the hard-line communists against Mikhail Gorbachev.
Eventually, Rostropovich established himself as an internationally recognized cultural, political, and intellectual figure of the new Russia. His music performances as well as his public statements were equally acclaimed and respected by all freedom-loving people.
Rostropovich returned to the new Russia and continued his career as a musician and public figure. He lived in his homes in Moscow and in St. Petersburg and remained active in cultural and political life until his death on April 27, 2007, at the age of 80, in Moscow.
