Rostropovich, Mstislav, << ros truh POH vihch, MIHS tuh slahv >> (1927-2007), was one of the world’s great cello players. He was also a distinguished conductor. As a cellist, Rostropovich expressed emotion and imagination through a range of tone variety. Many composers wrote works for him, notably Sergei Prokofiev, Dimitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian of the Soviet Union and Benjamin Britten of the United Kingdom. In 1977, Rostropovich became music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.
Rostropovich was born on March 27, 1927, in Baku, Azerbaijan, then part of the Soviet Union. In 1953, he was appointed to the cello faculty at the Moscow Conservatory. That same year, he played cello recitals in London and New York City that established his international reputation. In the 1970’s, he protested Soviet oppression, especially of Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Rostropovich left the Soviet Union in 1974. In 1994, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he resigned from the National Symphony and announced his intention to return to Russian musical life. Rostropovich died on April 27, 2007.
