Mischa Maisky was a prizewinner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1966. Then, he pursued a concert career throughout the former Soviet Union. After being imprisoned in a labour camp near Gorky for 18 months in 1970, he emigrated from the USSR. In this episode of the series It Ain’t Necessarily So…, Mischa Maisky relates his amazing musical journey.

It Ain’t Necessarily So…

In June 2014, famous violonist and conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky developped an interesting project with M-Productions (Moscow): a great cycle of interviews of important personalities of the musical world. Each episode features a guest such as: Bella Davidovich (piano player and teacher), Barbara Hendricks (opera and jazz singer), Mischa Maisky (cellist), Evgeny Kissin (piano) and many other famous artists... Sitkovetsky invites them to confide in him and presents unique footages of their performances. Without further delay, watch all episodes!

We are first and foremost complicated and vulnerable men and women, and our paths to artistic triumphs cannot be separated from our personal journeys, the love, the loneliness, the relationships, the disappointments, the strife to know ourselves and to connect with others, however tenuously or temporarily. These connections are what this series of conversations is all about. I want you to get to know my friends and long-time collaborators as I know and love them. Some of what you hear might surprise you. Some of it might shatter your assumptions. But hopefully all of it will give you a deeper connection to these extraordinary people. (Dmitry Sitkovetsky, about his series It Ain’t Necessarily So….)