Mischa Maisky
Mischa Maisky ( Latvian: Misa Maiskis; born January 10, 1948 in Riga, Latvia) is a Latvian cellist.
Life and work
At eight, he began to play the cello and took first at the Municipal School of Music and later at the Conservatory in Riga lessons. His brother Valeri played the piano and his sister violin. 1962 changed the 14 -year-old at the Leningrad Conservatory. A year later, Maisky was included in the master class of Mstislav Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1966 he won the sixth prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. 1970 Maisky was sentenced to two years of forced labor, probably because his sister had gone the year before Israel into exile. A friendly doctor referred him to a mental hospital, as this had been the only way for him to escape after his army.
Emigration 1972
Thanks to a free purchase by an American benefactor, he emigrated to Israel in the winter of 1972 also and then relocated to Brussels. In 1973, he won the Gaspar Cassadó International Cello Competition in Florence. In the same year he made his debut at Carnegie Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by William Steinberg. After the concert, he was approached by an admirer, which is a Montagnana cello from 1720 showed him and offered at a bargain price to buy. The cello was first acquired by a foundation, later Maisky was able to take it with the help of a bank loan. Through the mediation of Rostropovich Maisky 1974 master student of Gregor Piatigorsky. For four months he played and talked almost every day with Piatigorsky, whereas when Rostropovich was only possible between its tour performances. He is the only cellist who has taken lessons with Rostropovich and Piatigorsky.
In 1976 he appeared in London for the first time. In 1982, the cooperation with Deutsche Grammophon. The first recording was the Double Concerto for Cello and violin by Brahms, which he recorded with Gidon Kremer and the Vienna Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein's line. There followed in 1985 a recording of Bach's cello suites. In 1992 he appeared for the first time at the London Proms, a year later with Martha Argerich at the Salzburg Festival. Mischa Maisky is today one of the leading cellists and at major international concert stages at home. His favorite chamber music partners include Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu and Malcolm Frager. Maisky's repertoire includes the entire cello literature with the exception of modernity.
Since his emigration he always plays the same instrument, a Montagnana cello. Maisky lives in Brussels, he is not based on the historical performance practice, for he counts himself among the " Romantics " among cellists and is therefore looking as often as possible the emotional intensity of a concert performance on.