Baku to host the 10th Int'l Mstislav Rostropovich Festival

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

The 10th International Mstislav Rostropovich Festival will be held in Baku on April 22-27.

The festival will bring together world-famous musicians from Azerbaijan, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, etc.

The event is organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Yenicag  reported.

The festival participants include the Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne (Switzerland), the St. Petersburg State Academic Ballet Theater of Boris Eifman (Russia), MünchenKlang Orchestra (Germany), Boris Berezovsky (piano), Sergey Krylov (violin), Efim Bronfman (piano), conductor Joshua Wallerstein and others.

Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra will perform at the Heydar Aliyev Palace on April 26. The orchestra will be conducted by Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Fuad Ibrahimov

The soloist of the evening will be Pablo Ferrandes (cello).

The concert will feature works of Giuseppe Verdi, Camille Saint-Saens and Igor Stravinsky.

Ticket price is 10-40 AZN ($ 6-24).Tickets are on sale in all ticket offices of Baku, as well as ASAN Service Centers. You can also purchase tickets online: Iticket.az

Born in Baku, Mstislav Rostropovich was internationally recognized as a staunch advocate of human rights, and he was awarded the 1974 Award of the International League of Human Rights.

Rostropovich was a huge influence on the younger generation of cellists. Many have openly acknowledged their debt to his example. In the Daily Telegraph, Julian Lloyd Webber called him "probably the greatest cellist of all time."

He inspired and premiered over 100 pieces and formed long-standing artistic partnerships with such prominent composers as Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutos?awski, Olivier Messiaen, Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Norbert Moret, Andreas Makris and Benjamin Britten.

A five-time Grammy Award winner, he has become one of the West leading conductors.

He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966.They performed together regularly.