Mischa Maisky

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Mischa Maisky in Kronberg (2007)

Mischa Maisky ( Russian Ми́ша Ма́йский , Hebrew מישה מייסקי; * January 10, 1948 in Riga , Soviet Union , today Latvia ) is a classical cellist and is considered one of the best cellists of our time. Today he lives in Waterloo near Brussels.

life and work

Mischa Maisky (2006)
Mischa Maisky, honorary laureate of the ZMF 2016 in Freiburg

He began to play the cello at the age of eight and took lessons at the City Music School and later at the Riga Conservatory . His brother Valeri played the piano and his sister the violin. In 1962, the 14-year-old moved to the Leningrad Conservatory . A year later Maisky was accepted into the master class of Mstislav Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory . In 1966 he won sixth prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In 1970 Maisky was sentenced to two years in a labor camp, presumably because his sister had emigrated to Israel the year before . A doctor friend referred him to a mental hospital as this was the only way for him to escape the army after his imprisonment.

Thanks to a ransom by a US patron, he also emigrated to Israel in the winter of 1972 and then moved to Brussels . In 1973 he won the Gaspar Cassadó International Cello Competition in Florence. In the same year he made his debut in Carnegie Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of William Steinberg . After the concert he was approached by an admirer who showed him a Montagnana cello from 1720 and offered it for sale at a ridiculous price. The cello was first acquired by a foundation, later Maisky was able to take it over with the help of a bank loan. On the mediation of Rostropovich, Misha Maisky became a master student of Gregor Piatigorsky in 1974 . For four months he played and talked to Piatigorsky almost every day, while this was possible with Rostropowitschnur between his touring appearances. This makes him the only cellist who took lessons from Rostropovich and Piatigorsky.

In 1976 he performed in London. In 1982 the collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon began . The first recording was Brahms ' double concerto for cello and violin , which Mischa Maisky recorded with Gidon Kremer and the Vienna Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein's direction. A recording of Bach's cello suites followed in 1985 . In 1992 he appeared for the first time at the London Proms , in 1993 with Martha Argerich at the Salzburg Festival . His preferred chamber music partners are Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu and Malcolm Frager . Maisky's repertoire includes all cello literature with the exception of modern times .

Since his emigration, Mischa Maiksy has always played the same instrument, his Montagnana cello. He is not based on historical performance practice , but counts himself among the "romantics" among cellists and likes the emotional intensity of a concert performance.

The musician has five children, the pianist Lily Maisky, born 1987 in Paris, the violinist Sascha Maisky, born 1989 in Brussels, and three other sons from his second marriage. Mischa Maisky and his older children founded the Maisky Trio , which performs in numerous concert halls in Europe. The family members also play solo in various orchestral works, for example in Beethoven's Triple Concerto (2017 in Graz) or in Brahms ' Double Concerto (2013 in Cologne).

Instruments

Awards

  • 1965: First prize in the Soviet national music competition
  • 1978: Winner of the Viotti competition in Vercelli
  • 2002: Golden City Hall Man of the City of Vienna

CD recordings

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ All good lives come in threes, a home visit to Mischa Maisky, March 25, 2015.
  2. ↑ "It is a great responsibility to play contemporary music" , star cellist Mischa Maisky, article by Burkhard Schäfer, Die Zeit, February 8, 2010
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Sandner : He is the classic eccentric. For the Latvian cello virtuoso Mischa Maisky on his seventieth birthday . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of January 10, 2018, p. 12.
  4. ↑ Axel Brüggemann: "Paprika in the jacket pocket" . Welt am Sonntag , March 7, 2004, accessed on February 24, 2018 (interview with Zubin Mehta and Mischa Maisky).
  5. ↑ Maisky biography , Deutsche Grammophon
  6. ↑ Interview with "Aeschbacher" on Swiss television SF1 on April 28, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Maisky, Misha
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soviet-Israeli cellist
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Riga