Mischa Maisky is the only cellist to have studied with Mstislav Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky. This unique heritage has given him the ability to combine delicate poetry with a strong musical personality and brilliant technique.
Born in Russia, a prize-winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition, he emigrated to Israel in 1971. He made his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York with William Steinberg. For his first concert in Paris in 1976, he played with Martha Argerich and Ivry Gitlis. He has played with an extraordinary array of musicians including Radu Lupu, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Maxim Vengerov, Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Daniel Barenboim. Maisky is the first cellist to have recorded the complete works for cello by Johann Sebastian Bach at DGG.
With Martha Argerich, he has recorded the sonatas of Bach, Schubert, Franck and Debussy as well as the complete variations and sonatas by Beethoven, winning a Diapason d’Or in 1992. His recordings have been recognised by Tokyo’s Record Academy for the Elgar Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Giuseppe Sinopoli.
Mischa Maisky appears courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH.