born March 27, 1927, Baku, Azerbaijan S.S.R., U.S.S.R.
Russian-born U.S. cellist and conductor.
He studied composition (with Dmitry Shostakovich ), piano, and cello at the Moscow Conservatory from 1943. He had pieces written for him by such composers as Shostakovich, Sergey Prokofiev , and Benjamin Britten . A political dissident, he left the Soviet Union in 1974 and made his career in the West. Settling in the U.S., he served as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra (1977–96), while continuing to make many solo appearances, becoming perhaps the world's most famous cellist. As a pianist, he accompanied his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya (b. 1926).