Mischa Maisky

Born in Riga, Latvia, in 1948, Mischa Maisky’s childhood was surrounded by music. With a pianist sister and violinist brother, he began to play the cello at 8 years old and received his first music lessons at the Children’s Music School and Conservatory. His education continued in Russia, at the Leningrad Conservatory and his 1965 debut with the Leningrad Philharmonic earned him the nickname “Rostropovich of the Future”. One year later, he was a prize-winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and began his studies with Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory while pursuing a concert career throughout the former Soviet Union. He emigrated from the USSR after being imprisoned in a labour camp near Gorky for 18 months in 1970. Following his repatriation to Israel, Maisky made his debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1973 with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under William Steinberg. In 1974, he began his studies with Gregor Piatigorsky, making him the only cellist in the world to have studied with both Piatigorsky and Rostropovich. His international career officially began, however, in 1975, and he has since been enthusiastically received in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, New York and Tokyo, along with the rest of the major music centres of the world. As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 1985, he has made well over 35 recordings with orchestras that include the Wiener Philharmoniker and Israel Philharmonic, the Berliner Philharmoniker, London Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Orpheus und Chamber Orchestra of Europe and others. His recordings have enjoyed worldwide critical acclaim, winning the prestigious Record Academy Prize in Tokyo five times, the Echo Deutscher Schallplattenpreis three times, the Grand Prix du Disque in Paris, and the Diapason d’Or of the Year, as well as the several coveted Grammy nominations. A deep admirer of Bach, having recorded his Solo Suits three times, one of Maisky’s career highlights came in the year 2000, when he devoted a worldwide tour of over 100 concerts to the composer, including a Bach Marathon in Zurich, Switzerland, where he played all of Bach’s works for cello in three concerts on one day. A citizen of the world, as well as a world-class musician, Maisky is also a regular guest in many major international festivals, having collaborated with many conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, Carlo Maria Giulini, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, James Levine, Charles Dutoit, Yuri Temirkanov, Mariss Jansons, and Gustavo Dudamel. He has also partnered with numerous artists such as Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, Nelson Freire, Evgeny Kissin, Itzhak Perlman, Lang Lang, Peter Serkin, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Vadim Repin, Maxim Vengerov, Joshua Bell, Julian Rachlin and Janine Jansen to name just a few. His two children, Sascha and Lily Maisky, have also pursued careers in the music, as violinists and pianists respectively, and they often perform with Mischa as a trio.