MISCHA MAISKY

From dicidence to reference

June 2020

Born in 1948 in Riga, Latvia, Mischa Maisky received his first music lessons there at the Children’s Music School and Conservatory. His older brother Valery was an organist and harpsichordist. Maisky took up the cello at eight and entered the Riga Conservatory. In 1965, he moved to the larger city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and he quickly flourished. He won a national cello competition, performed with the Leningrad Philharmonic – where he earned the nickname “Rostropovich of the Future- and took a prize at Moscow’s International Tchaikovsky Competition.  

He studied with Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory while pursuing a concert career throughout the former Soviet Union. After being imprisoned in a labour camp near Gorky for 18 months in 1970,  he emigrated to Israel in 1971, where he holds citizenship. And that was just his “first life,” as he says. 

In his performing and recording career, Mischa Maisky has worked in long-standing partnerships with artists such as the pianists Valery Afanassiev, Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Hélène Grimaud;  the violinists Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Julian Rachlin,  and the conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein,  Zubin Mehta,  and many others. Maisky’s friendship with Martha Argerich has led to many performances together, such as the world premiere of Rodion Shchedrin’s double concerto Romantic Offering in 2011 in Lucerne, Switzerland. 

As a Deutsche Grammophon artist during the last 25 years, he has made over 50 recordings, including many with such symphony orchestras. Maisky has recorded the major cello repertory for Deutsche Grammophon, issuing new music almost annually, and he has teamed with his daughter, pianist Lily Maisky, for several albums. 

Even if he had gone through difficult moments in the past, he doesn’t regregret it: “Though I didn’t get my diploma at the Moscow Conservatory, I did receive a much more complete life education because of my experience. Believe it or not, I actually don’t have any feelings of anger or resentment about my past. I don’t regret anything that has happened to me because I believe that it’s very important to try to find the positive elements in life experiences, even painful ones.” 

Today, Maisky resides in Belgium and considers himself a citizen of the world. “I do live in Europe and feel very European,”. “I play an Italian cello with French bows and German strings. I drive a Japanese car and wear a Swiss watch and Indian necklace. My first wife was American, my second beautiful wife is Italian. And by chance, all four of my children were born in four different countries. I always say I feel at home wherever people enjoy great classical music.” Said the artist during an interview in WQXR.