Mischa Maisky

Mischa Maisky was born in 1948 in Riga

Mischa Maisky was born on 10 January 1948 in Riga to a family of musicians. His brother Valery was an organist and his sister Lina played piano. He began studying cello at age 8.

He studied at the Riga Conservatory and later in Leningrad and Moscow. In Moscow he was a student of Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1966 he won a prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition.

After his sister moved to Israel in 1969, Soviet authorities barred him from traveling abroad. In 1970 he was arrested after buying a tape recorder and was held in jail and a labor camp. He left the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in Israel, living for a time in Holon.

In 1974 he studied with Gregor Piatigorsky in Los Angeles. He played at Carnegie Hall in 1973 and in London in 1976, and worked with artists such as Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer and Leonard Bernstein. He recorded Bach's suites for solo cello, and in 2003 received the Echo Klassik award.

Maisky lives in Belgium and holds Israeli citizenship. He has 6 children and has performed with his children Lily, Maximilian and Sascha.