［CITY］
Moscow … Russia
［SCHEDULE］
2026：3.30 … 4.27
To the festival site ▷
Who is the cellist representing the 20th century? If you ask the question, Mustislav Rostropovich’s name will come from many people. He gained fame since he was young, and in 1966 he received the title “People’s Artist” before 40 years old. It is exactly the musician representing the former Soviet Union.
But he was not afraid to lose that position, defended the dissidential regime physicist Andrei Sakharov and offered a villa garage as a workplace to the dissidential regime novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Naturally, he was regarded as their companion, and in 1970 the government of Soviet Union stopped performing activities. It was the violinist Yehudi Menuhin who helped him. Menuhin invited him to the UNESCO Concert in Paris to invite him to leave the Soviet Union, Rostropovich exiled as it was.
And Rostropovich suddenly took over as the music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, USA in 1977 and surprised the world. However, in the following year, he was stripped of his nationality. Recovery will wait until the Gorbachev regime is born in the former Soviet Union. In 1990, he was invited to his home country, led the National Symphony Orchestra, performed a triumphant performance and restored nationality.
After retiring from the National Symphony Orchestra in 1994, he served as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, passionate about humanitarian activities, and continued energetic activities beyond the boundaries of musicians, until he passed away in 2007 at the age of 80.
The music festival commemorating him is founded in 2010. Moscow Conservatory is held at the main venue. Of course, the National Symphony Orchestra deeply connected with the Maestro, the 2017 music festival is led by Christoph Eschenbach and is guest starring.
