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46-651: From 1952 to 1990 the festival's main performance space was a gigantic tent in Santander's Plaza Porticada. The final performance there was a concert by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Mstislav Rostropovich on August 30, 1990. Upon its completion in 1991, the Palacio de Festivales, became the festival's new home. It was inaugurated with a performance by the King's Consort of Handel's oratorio, Joshua . The building

92-587: A "substantially higher" sum than the £20 million pre-sale estimate In 2006, he was featured in Alexander Sokurov 's documentary Elegy of a life: Rostropovich, Vishnevskaya . Rostropovich's health declined in 2006, with the Chicago Tribune reporting rumours of unspecified surgery in Geneva and later treatment for an aggravated ulcer. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Rostropovich to discuss details of

138-627: A celebration the Kremlin was planning for 27 March 2007, Rostropovich's 80th birthday. Rostropovich attended the celebration but was reportedly in frail health. Though Rostropovich's last home was in Paris, he maintained residences in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, London , Lausanne , and Jordanville, New York . He was admitted to a Paris hospital at the end of January 2007, but then decided to fly to Moscow, where he had been receiving care. On 6 February 2007 Rostropovich

184-609: A cello concert was organized by the Armenian Relief Society and the Volunteers Technical Assistance (VTA) for the victims of the earthquake. At the concert, Rostropovich played his favorite cello repertoire, including Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor; Haydn's cello concerti in C and D; Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto; and Shostakovich's two cello concerti. The evening raised awareness and helped hundreds of earthquake victims put food on their tables. The concert

230-471: A live concert of their traditional music. The children sang songs from their common heritage as if they were together in one location thanks to the use of satellite technology. France 2011: Creation of Music Room for hearing-impaired children and adolescents at Institut National des Jeunes Sourds in Paris. With the opening of this music room, over 200 deaf students have access to music through vibration, visual, and other sensory stimuli that do not depend on

276-592: A plane ticket to Japan on a flight that stopped at Moscow, talked his way out of the airport and went to join Boris Yeltsin in the hope that his fame might make some difference to the chance of tanks moving in. Rostropovich supported Yeltsin during the 1993 constitutional crisis and conducted the National Symphony Orchestra in Red Square at the height of the crackdown. In 1993, he was instrumental in

322-561: A regular performer at the Aldeburgh Festival . His impromptu performance during the fall of the Berlin Wall as events unfolded was reported throughout the world. His Soviet citizenship was restored in 1990. When, in August 1991, news footage was broadcast of tanks in the streets of Moscow , Rostropovich responded with a characteristically brave, impetuous and patriotic gesture: he bought

368-519: A renowned cellist and former student of Pablo Casals , and Sofiya Nikolaevna Fedotova-Rostropovich, a talented pianist. Leopold (1892–1942) was born in Voronezh to Witold Rostropowicz  [ ru ] , a composer of Polish noble descent with distant Belarusian roots, and Matilda Rostropovich (née Pule) of German and Huguenot descent. The Polish part of his family bore the Bogoria coat of arms , which

414-453: A trip to India for the 1988 Armenian earthquake relief program. The event was part of an effort called Musicians for Armenia, which was expected to raise more than $ 450,000 from donations worldwide, including gifts from musicians, concert proceeds and film and recording rights. Prince Charles and the Princess of Wales attended the concert in the sold-out 2,026-seat hall. On February 7, 1989,

460-465: Is a pianist. She left Russia with her parents, cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich and soprano Galina Vishnevskaya in 1974. She is an acclaimed musician and philanthropist whose work on behalf of the health and well-being of children in such diverse parts of the world as the post‑Soviet republics, the Near East and Western Europe has gained wide recognition. She began to study piano at

506-526: The Azerbaijan State Conservatory . Together they formed a valuable art collection. In September 2007, when it was slated to be sold at auction by Sotheby's in London and dispersed, Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov stepped forward and negotiated the purchase of all 450 lots to keep the collection intact and bring it to Russia as a memorial to Rostropovich. Christie's reported that the buyer paid

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552-631: The Leningrad Conservatory and the Moscow Conservatory . In 1955, he married Galina Vishnevskaya , a leading soprano at the Bolshoi Theatre . Rostropovich had working relationships with Soviet composers of the era. In 1949 Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Cello Sonata , Op. 119, for the 22-year-old Rostropovich, who gave the first performance in 1950, with Sviatoslav Richter . Prokofiev also dedicated his Symphony-Concerto to him; this

598-594: The USSR State Symphony Orchestra ; it was the orchestra's debut performance at the Proms. The programme featured Czech composer Antonín Dvořák 's Cello Concerto in B minor and took place on the same day that the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia to end Alexander Dubček 's Prague Spring . After the performance, which had been preceded by heckling and demonstrations, the orchestra and soloist were cheered by

644-770: The 10 February 1948 decree on "formalist" composers, his teacher Dmitri Shostakovich was dismissed from his professorships in Leningrad and Moscow; the 21-year-old Rostropovich quit the conservatory in protest. Rostropovich also smuggled to the West the manuscript of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13 , which set verses by Yevgeny Yevtushenko ; the subject of its first movement was the Babi Yar massacre . In 1970, Rostropovich sheltered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn , who otherwise would have had nowhere to go, in his own home. His friendship with Solzhenitsyn and support for dissidents led to official disgrace in

690-637: The Conservatory in 1948 and became professor of cello there in 1956. Rostropovich gave his first cello concert in 1942. He won first prize at the international Music Awards of Prague and Budapest in 1947, 1949 and 1950. In 1950, at age 23, he was awarded what was then considered the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, the Stalin Prize . At that time, Rostropovich was already well known in his country and, while actively pursuing his solo career, taught at

736-504: The Proms audience. Rostropovich stood and held aloft the conductor's score of the Dvořák as a gesture of solidarity for the composer's homeland and the city of Prague. Rostropovich fought for art without borders, freedom of speech , and democratic values, resulting in harassment from the Soviet regime. An early example was in 1948, when he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory . In response to

782-438: The Soviet leadership instructed musicians from the Soviet bloc not to take part in an international competition he had organised. In 1978, Rostropovich was deprived of his Soviet citizenship because of his public opposition to the Soviet Union's restriction of cultural freedom. He did not return to the Soviet Union until 1990. On December 17, 1988, Rostropovich gave a special concert at Barbican Hall in London, after postponing

828-858: The UNESCO , he supported many educational and cultural projects. Rostropovich performed several times in Madrid and was a close friend of Queen Sofía of Spain . With his wife, Galina Vishnevskaya, he founded the Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation , a publicly supported nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, D.C., in 1991 to improve the health and future of children in the former Soviet Union. The Rostropovich Home Museum opened on 4 March 2002, in Baku. The couple visited Azerbaijan occasionally. Rostropovich also presented cello master classes at

874-534: The White House for President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn . This performance was broadcast live worldwide. In 1989, she became the Vice-President of the 1st International Piano Competition “World Music Masters” in Paris, France. As a mother of four children, she was unable to continue to travel with her father, so she began to write her own compositions. A record of her work entitled Love without Reasons

920-721: The ability to hear sound. Russia 2013-2015: Developing a new pilot program in Russia ;: the creation of children’s choirs in orphanages in the Moscow area with the participation of over 300 children. Elena Rostropovich is Honorary Chairwoman of the Board of the Rostropovich Cello Foundation in Kronberg (Germany) and President of the Rostropovich Foundation “Support to Lithuanian Children” (Lithuania). In 2009, she

966-495: The age of 4 with her grandmother, Sofia, a talented pianist. At the age of 6, she entered the pre‑Conservatory Central Music School in Moscow where she continued to study piano with renowned piano teacher, Evgeny Timakin. Her first appearance as a soloist with orchestra was at the age of 11 in Yaroslavl, Russia. In 1974, her father and mother were forced to leave Russia with their two daughters for publicly defending and supporting

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1012-435: The cello at age eight from his father. In 1943, at age 16, he entered the Moscow Conservatory , where he studied cello with his uncle Semyon Kozolupov, piano with Nikolai Kuvshinnikov, and composition with Vissarion Shebalin . His teachers also included Dmitri Shostakovich . In 1945, he came to prominence as a cellist when he won the gold medal in the Soviet Union's first ever competition for young musicians. He graduated from

1058-548: The cello repertoire more than any previous cellist: he gave the premiere of 117 compositions. Rostropovich is also well known for his interpretations of standard repertoire works, including Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor. Between 1997 and 2001 he was intimately involved in the development and testing of the BACH.Bow , a curved bow designed by the cellist Michael Bach . In 2001 he invited Bach to present his BACH.Bow to Paris (7th Concours de violoncelle Rostropovitch ). In 2011,

1104-486: The city of Moscow announced plans to erect a statue of Rostropovich in a central square; the statue was unveiled in 2012. He was also a notably generous spirit. Seiji Ozawa relates an anecdote: on hearing of the death of the baby daughter of his friend the sumo wrestler Chiyonofuji , Rostropovich flew unannounced to Tokyo, took a 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 -hour cab ride to Chiyonofuji's house and played his Bach sarabande outside, as his gesture of sympathy—then got back in

1150-768: The dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn . In 1975, Elena entered the Juilliard School of Music in New York, graduating in only 3 years. She continued her studies in Vermont with Rudolf Serkin . At the same time, Elena began to perform as a soloist and as an accompanist for her father. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1980. As the sole accompanist of her father for seven years, Elena performed in such musical capitals as New York, Boston, Washington, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, and Rio de Janeiro. In 1978, she accompanied her father in concert at

1196-497: The early 1970s. As a result, Rostropovich was restricted from foreign touring, as was his wife, Galina Vishnevskaya, and his appearances performing in Moscow were curtailed, as increasingly were his appearances in such major cities as Leningrad and Kiev. Rostropovich left the Soviet Union in 1974 with his wife and children and settled in the United States. He was banned from touring his homeland with foreign orchestras and, in 1977,

1242-558: The festival's performances are broadcast live on Spanish National Radio ( RTVE ). The RTVE-Música label has issued eight of these performances on CD, including the 2003 production of Simon Boccanegra and the Berlin Philharmonic 's 2004 concert of works by Mahler , Bruckner and Beethoven . Amongst the many distinguished conductors, musicians and singers who have appeared at the Festival Internacional de Santander over

1288-549: The festival. The festival had its beginnings in 1948 as a programme providing cultural entertainment to the foreign students at the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo. By 1952 it had become a fully fledged international music festival with José Manuel Riancho as its first director. José Luis Ocejo, a noted conductor and founder of the Coral Salvé de Laredo , has been its director since 1979. Many of

1334-611: The foundation of the Kronberg Academy and was a patron until his death. He commissioned Rodion Shchedrin to compose the opera Lolita and conducted its premiere in 1994 at the Royal Swedish Opera . Rostropovich received many international awards, including the French Legion of Honor and honorary doctorates from many universities. He was an activist, fighting for freedom of expression in art and politics. An ambassador for

1380-572: The four entractes from Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District and Shostakovich's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death with Vishnevskaya singing. In 1967, at the invitation of the Bolshoi Theatre's director Mikhail Chulaki , he conducted Tchaikovsky 's opera Eugene Onegin at the Bolshoi. Rostropovich played at The Proms on the night of 21 August 1968. He played with

1426-505: The social issues of children in need. In 2013, the name of the association was changed to the "Association Elena Rostropovich" (AER). Elena has created various projects for vulnerable children in France and in the Near East, which were then developed together with AER. On April 23, 2013, "Al Sununu" choirs in Bethlehem, Gaza City, Amman, Damascus and Beirut performed simultaneously via satellite

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1472-481: The taxi and returned to the airport to fly back to Europe. Rostropovich is included in the Russian-American Chamber of Fame of Congress of Russian Americans , which is dedicated to Russian immigrants who made outstanding contributions to American science or culture. Rostropovich received about 50 awards during his life, including: Elena Rostropovich Elena Rostropovich (Moscow, June 22, 1958)

1518-1400: The two had a special affinity; Rostropovich's family described him as "always smiling" when discussing "Ben", and on his deathbed he was said to have expressed no fear as he and Britten would, he believed, be reunited in Heaven. Britten was also renowned as a pianist and together they recorded, among other works, Schubert 's Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A minor . His daughter claimed that this recording moved her father to tears of joy even on his deathbed. Rostropovich also had artistic partnerships with Henri Dutilleux ( Tout un monde lointain... for cello and orchestra, Trois strophes sur le nom de Sacher for solo cello), Witold Lutosławski ( Cello Concerto , Sacher-Variation for solo cello), Krzysztof Penderecki (cello concerto n°2, Largo for cello and orchestra, Per Slava for solo cello, sextet for piano, clarinet, horn, violin, viola and cello), Luciano Berio ( Ritorno degli snovidenia for cello and thirty instruments, Les mots sont allés... for solo cello), and Olivier Messiaen ( Concert à quatre for piano, cello, oboe, flute and orchestra). Rostropovich took private lessons in conducting with Leo Ginzburg , and first conducted in public in Gorky in November 1962, performing

1564-482: The visit was to discuss arrangements for marking Rostropovich's 80th birthday. On 27 March 2007, Putin issued a statement praising Rostropovich. On 7 April 2007, Rostropovich reentered the Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Centre, where he was treated for intestinal cancer . He died on 27 April, aged 80. On 28 April, Rostropovich's body lay in an open casket at the Moscow Conservatory , and

1610-575: The world. In 2007, following the death of her father, Elena became president of the RVF . From 1991-to the present, RVF has designed and financed sustainable immunization and other children’s public health programs for over 20 million individuals in many countries, including Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. In 2008, she founded the Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Association, based in Paris, France, to focus on

1656-576: The years are: Zubin Mehta , Sir Georg Solti , Riccardo Muti , Arthur Rubinstein , Alicia de Larrocha , Daniel Barenboim , Diletta Rizzo Marin , Montserrat Caballé , Teresa Berganza , Samuel Ramey , Juan Diego Flórez , Mirella Freni , José Carreras , and Plácido Domingo , who made his Kirov Opera debut in the title role of Otello when the company performed at the festival in 1992. Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (27 March 1927 – 27 April 2007)

1702-693: Was a Russian cellist and conductor . In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since. He inspired and premiered over 100 pieces, forming long-standing friendships and artistic partnerships with composers including Dmitri Shostakovich , Sergei Prokofiev , Henri Dutilleux , Witold Lutosławski , Olivier Messiaen , Luciano Berio , Krzysztof Penderecki , Alfred Schnittke , Norbert Moret , Andreas Makris , Leonard Bernstein , Aram Khachaturian , and Benjamin Britten . Rostropovich

1748-844: 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". Rostropovich either commissioned or was the recipient of compositions by many composers including Dmitri Shostakovich , Sergei Prokofiev , Nikolai Miaskovsky , Benjamin Britten , Henri Dutilleux , Olivier Messiaen , André Jolivet , Witold Lutosławski , Luciano Berio , Krzysztof Penderecki , Leonard Bernstein , Alfred Schnittke , Aram Khachaturian , Astor Piazzolla , Andreas Makris , Sofia Gubaidulina , Arthur Bliss , Colin Matthews and Lopes Graça . His commissions of new works enlarged

1794-434: Was admitted to a hospital in Moscow. "He is just feeling unwell", Natalya Dolezhale, Rostropovich's secretary in Moscow, said. Asked if there was serious cause for concern about his health, she said: "No, right now there is no cause whatsoever." She refused to specify the nature of his illness. The Kremlin said that Putin had visited him in the hospital, which prompted speculation that he was in serious condition. Dolezhale said

1840-556: Was designed by Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza . Its main auditorium, the Sala Argenta, is noted for its transparent and natural-sounding acoustics and has a seating capacity of 1670. Unusually, the backdrop of its stage is a large window looking out onto the Bay of Santander . The auditorium is named in honour of the Spanish conductor Ataúlfo Argenta , who played a major role in the establishment of

1886-559: Was held at the Kennedy Center and over 2,300 were in attendance. From 1977 to 1994, Rostropovich was music director and conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., while still performing with famous musicians such as Martha Argerich , Sviatoslav Richter , and Vladimir Horowitz . He was also the director and founder of the Mstislav Rostropovich Baku International Festival and

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1932-683: Was internationally recognized as a staunch advocate of human rights , and was awarded the 1974 Award of the International League of Human Rights . He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya and had two daughters, Olga and Elena Rostropovich . He received numerous accolades, including a Polar Music Prize . Mstislav Rostropovich was born in Baku , Azerbaijan SSR , to parents who had moved from Orenburg in Russia: Leopold Vitoldovich Rostropovich  [ ru ] ,

1978-568: Was located at the family palace in Skotniki . Mstislav's mother Sofiya Fedotova, of Russian descent, was the daughter of musicians and herself a conservatory-trained pianist. Her elder sister, Nadezhda, married cellist Semyon Kozolupov, who was thus Rostropovich's uncle by marriage. Rostropovich grew up in Baku and spent his youth there. During World War II his family moved back to Orenburg and then in 1943 to Moscow. At age four, Rostropovich began studying piano with his mother. He began learning

2024-564: Was premiered in 1952. Rostropovich and Dmitry Kabalevsky completed Prokofiev's Cello Concertino after the composer's death. Shostakovich wrote both his first and second cello concertos for Rostropovich, who also gave their first performances. Rostropovich went on several tours in Western Europe and met several composers, including Benjamin Britten , who dedicated his Cello Sonata, three Solo Suites, and his Cello Symphony to Rostropovich. Rostropovich gave their first performances, and

2070-492: Was released by EMI in 1990. From 1997 until 2001, Elena was general director of the International Music Festival “Rencontres Musicales d’Evian” (France). From 2001 until 2007, she managed the career of her father and also joined the board of directors of the Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation (RVF), based in Washington, DC, a charitable organization dedicated to modernizing healthcare for children throughout

2116-570: Was then moved to the Church of Christ the Saviour . Thousands of mourners, including Putin, bade farewell. Spain's Queen Sofia , French first lady Bernadette Chirac and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, where Rostropovich was born, as well as Naina Yeltsina , Yeltsin's widow, were among those who attended the funeral on 29 April. Rostropovich was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery . Rostropovich

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