Eastman Showcase 2007
Play Mstislav For Me
When the great Russian cellist, conductor, and human rights advocate Mstislav Rostropovich died in April of this year, Eastman cello students wasted no time in arranging a musical tribute to him. For the program, performed May 9 in Rochester’s Village Gate Square, eight Eastman-trained cellists performed all six Bach cello suites, as well as pieces written for Rostropovich by Britten, Lutoslawski, and Penderecki. Donations received at the concert were sent to the Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation, founded in 1991 by the cellist and his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, to improve children’s health care in the former states of the Soviet Union.
The concert was arranged by Lauren Radnovsky (BM ’03), who stated, “Rostropovich has been an enormous influence for all the cellists presenting this concert, and for many of us the inspiration behind our decisions to pursue a life in music. The moment I decided to become a cellist was after hearing Rostropovich play with the Boston Symphony when I was growing up. I skipped school twice that week to see him play in rehearsals and concerts.”