Mischa Michael Maisky

Background

Mischa Maisky was born on January 10, 1948, in Riga, then part of the Soviet Union and now the capital of Latvia. He began studying the cello at the age of eight in Riga, receiving his early musical training at the city's children's music school and conservatory. His family was musical, and his older sister played piano while his brother began as a violinist.

Maisky's early professional development took place within the Soviet musical system, where conservatories and state orchestras provided the principal institutions for advanced training and public performance. His later emigration to Israel in 1972 followed imprisonment and forced-labor service in the Soviet Union, after which he established a new professional life outside the USSR.

Education

Maisky received his early training in Riga before entering the Leningrad Conservatory in 1962. His debut with the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1965 and his prize at the 1966 International Tchaikovsky Competition brought him to the attention of Mstislav Rostropovich, with whom he subsequently studied at the Moscow Conservatory.

The Leningrad and Moscow conservatories were leading Soviet institutions for advanced musical education, combining intensive instrumental instruction with the performance traditions of the Russian school. After emigrating to Israel, Maisky studied in Los Angeles with Gregor Piatigorsky in 1974. Piatigorsky, who had taught at the University of Southern California, represented a major American continuation of the Russian cello tradition; Maisky became known for having studied with both Piatigorsky and Rostropovich.

Career

Maisky made his public debut with the Leningrad Philharmonic in 1965 and was recognized in the following year at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He pursued concert work across the Soviet Union while studying with Rostropovich, but his career was interrupted in 1970 when he was imprisoned and held in a labor camp near Gorky for eighteen months. After leaving the Soviet Union, he settled in Israel in 1972.

In 1973 Maisky won the Cassadó Competition in Florence and made his American debut at Carnegie Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under William Steinberg. An anonymous admirer presented him with an eighteenth-century Montagnana cello after the concert, an instrument he has continued to perform on. He studied with Piatigorsky in Los Angeles in 1974 and thereafter developed an international career as a soloist and chamber musician.

Maisky made his London concerto debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1976 and his London recital debut with Radu Lupu in 1977. His collaborations have included Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, Radu Lupu, Yuri Bashmet, Lang Lang, Sergio Tiempo, Vadim Repin, and his children Lily and Sascha Maisky. He has appeared with orchestras including the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, the Israel Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Russian National Orchestra, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

His recording career includes more than forty recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and a broad repertory extending from Bach's solo suites and cello sonatas to concertos by Dvořák, Elgar, Schumann, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and contemporary composers. In 1982 he made his first Deutsche Grammophon recording, Brahms's Double Concerto with Gidon Kremer, the Vienna Philharmonic, and Leonard Bernstein; in 1985 he signed an exclusive contract with the label. His work has also included arrangements and multitrack performances, including Bach and twentieth-century repertoire.

Achievements

• Maisky established an international career as a solo cellist after emigrating from the Soviet Union, performing with leading orchestras and chamber musicians across Europe, North America, Asia, and other regions.

• He became known for having studied with both Mstislav Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky, linking the major Russian and American cello traditions in his artistic training.

• Maisky made more than forty recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, covering core cello repertoire, chamber music, arrangements, and contemporary works.

• He performed all of Johann Sebastian Bach's major cello works in a three-concert Bach Marathon in Zurich in 2000 and subsequently presented more than one hundred Bach concerts worldwide.

Works

• album

  • 20th Century Classics

    (A double album devoted to twentieth-century repertoire by...)

    2019
  • Mischa Maisky in Verbier

    (A collection of live Verbier Festival performances with M...)

    2024
  • ¡España!

    (A collection of Spanish songs and dances recorded with pi...)

    2011
  • Adagietto

    (A recital album with Lily Maisky featuring short pieces a...)

    2018
  • Song of the Cello

    (An anthology of Maisky's concerto, chamber, and solo reco...)

    2007
  • Morgen

    (An album of chamber music by Richard Strauss and Antonín ...)

    2009
  • Bach: Six Suites for Solo Cello

    (Maisky performs Johann Sebastian Bach's six suites for un...)

    1999

Views

Maisky has described himself as a citizen of the world and has emphasized the international character of musical life. His artistic outlook values openness to different musical traditions, continuous learning, and the expressive possibilities of the cello across historical periods and national schools.

Membership

Maisky has held honorary affiliations with major musical institutions, including the Royal Academy of Music, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. These institutions support advanced musical education, performance, and the preservation and development of professional musical culture.

• Honorary Member

  Royal Academy of Music , United Kingdom

  2019 - present

• Honorary Academician

  Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia , Italy

  2021 - present

• Honorary Fellow

  Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance , Israel

  2021 - present

Personality

Maisky has described learning from musicians and other people throughout life and has expressed a strong interest in continued intellectual and artistic development. His public interviews also present him as deeply committed to chamber music and to performing with his children.

Quotes from others about the person

• Mstislav Rostropovich described Maisky as one of the outstanding talents of his generation, emphasizing the combination of poetry, sensitivity, temperament, and brilliant technique in his playing.

Interests

• Chess and computing.

• Music & Bands

  Classical music, chamber music, and the cello repertoire, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Connections

Maisky married Maryanne Kay Lipman in 1983. He has six children; Lily Maisky is a pianist and Sascha Maisky is a violinist, and both have performed and recorded with him. His family chamber-music projects include performances and recordings with Lily and Sascha as a piano trio and as collaborators in recital repertoire.

Wife:

Maryanne Kay Lipman

Maisky married her in 1983.

Daughter:

Lily Maisky

Pianist who has performed and recorded chamber music with her father.

Son:

Sascha Maisky

Violinist who has performed chamber music and recordings with his father.

References

• Deutsche Grammophon biography of Mischa Maisky Documents Maisky's birth and training in Riga and Leningrad, studies with Rostropovich and Piatigorsky, imprisonment and emigration, major concert debuts, recording career, collaborations, and repertoire.
• Gulbenkian Música biography of Mischa Maisky Describes Maisky's early cello studies, conservatory education, political persecution in the Soviet Union, emigration, and studies with Piatigorsky.
• Verbier Festival biography of Mischa Maisky Documents his international concert career, the Cassadó Prize, Carnegie Hall debut, Montagnana cello, major collaborations, and recorded repertoire.
• Intermusica artist biography Documents Maisky's recording honors, collaborations with his children, honorary memberships, and major institutional distinctions.
• ABC Classic interview and biography Discusses Maisky's family background, six children, chamber performances with Lily and Sascha, and his musical career.
  2020
• Conversation with Mischa Maisky Provides an extended interview concerning his studies with Rostropovich and Piatigorsky and his views on cello performance and musical training.