IN OCTOBER THIS YEAR Galina Vishnevskaya WAS 90 YEARS OLD. IN MEMORY OF HER DAUGHTER OF FAMOUS MUSICIANS OLGA ROSTROPOVICH THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL OPERA FESTIVAL NAMED AFTER GALINA VISHNEVSKAYA IN SOCHI. ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER HIS END, OLGA ARRIVED IN DUBAI FOR A FEW DAYS, WHERE WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TALK WITH IT.
Olga, how was the festival? After all, you organized it for the first time.
Olga Rostropovich: Yes, we did the festival in Sochi from an absolute zero. The first such festival I did in Baku - my father’s hometown. His parents were musicians, and in the 20s of the last century they were invited to teach at the Baku Conservatory, to develop musical education and culture. My dad was born there and lived in Azerbaijan the happiest three years of his childhood. In 2007, when he passed away, they called me from Baku and asked me to hold a festival there. And in Sochi this year we did a festival dedicated to the 90th anniversary of mom. The idea of the festival did not come to me right away. The fact is that there is no opera theater as such in Sochi. It just shocked me: how can it be that there is no opera house in such a city? It turned out that the only theater that is there is the Winter Theater, and it was opened in 1937 with an opera. And it was “The Tsar’s Bride” - my mother’s favorite performance, in which she sang more than once. Therefore, we held the festival in the Winter Theater - showed "Rigoletto" and "Iolanta". Tickets for these performances were not available, which is insanely pleasant.
You said that you wanted to arrange an “opera by the sea” so that men put on tuxedos, ladies - evening dresses and come to the seashore to enjoy music. So everything went well?
Olga Rostropovich: The festival still took place not at the sea, but in the theater, but in the future I would like to do something similar, in the best Italian traditions, in the open. But everything has its time. Moreover, we did this festival solely on our own enthusiasm.
Is it true that everyone from Moscow to Sochi flew on an Aeroflot Galina Vishnevskaya?
Olga Rostropovich: Yes, and it was very symbolic, although booking this plane was not so easy. A little background - many years ago my father was very friendly with the head of Aeroflot Valery Okulov, and once jokingly told him: "Well, really, you can’t name the plane by my name?" To which Valery replied: "Dear dear, I hope that for a very long time we will not be able to call him by your name, because we call planes only by the names of departed people." Therefore, a plane named after him appeared in Aeroflot only after his death. And when my mother left, the plane “Galina Vishnevskaya” appeared - the only one, incidentally, named after the woman. Almost all Aeroflot aircrafts have their own names. And this is beautiful - as if departed souls continue to soar above the clouds.
We thought it would be great to fly to the festival in Sochi on a plane named after my mother. We had to go through a long procedure for obtaining permission, but in the end we were given it. On board were 170 people from the Opera Center and 40 other passengers. And so, when we got into the Sheremetyevo plane on the Vishnevskaya plane to fly to the Vishnevskaya festival, a huge plane landed nearby and gently rolled up to us. It was written "Rostropovich". These two aircraft have never crossed before, at any airport in the world.
It was so unexpected - as if dad had blessed us on the road. Where that plane flew further, we did not know. In addition, the Vishnevskaya aircraft was parked at the 14th exit, and the Rostropovich aircraft landed on the 13th. And in the pictures we took, the camera showed the time 13.14. Here's how to explain it? The sum of these numbers is 27. This is my father’s birthday (March 27), and the year of his birth (1927), as well as the date and year of death (April 27, 2007). Can this be a mere coincidence?
Do you continue to communicate with them, feel them?
Olga Rostropovich: Yes. Because, if you simply accept the fact that they are not there and will never be again, you can go crazy. My parents seemed to create a strong energy field around me, and I feel that they continue to support and guide me.
In general, it is such a rare case that two such talented and bright people live life together.
Olga Rostropovich: Yes, and now they have met again. I often remember my mother, who said that the most important thing in life is to spend time in the company of smart people, such as Pushkin, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Yesenin, Tsvetaeva, Mandelstam.
Now, re-reading Chekhov, I understand her very well. There are such depths! Mom loved poetry, could write a couple of poetic lines on a piece of paper and carry with her. Then she gave it to her father, and dad carried this piece of paper in a cello case ...
Mstislav Rostropovich often said that he sleeps only three hours a day. It's true?
Olga Rostropovich: Yes, that was his whole life, and he had enough.
Where did he get his strength from?
Olga Rostropovich: He always did what he loved. And when you do what you love, you do not notice the time. He had a tremendous sense of duty and responsibility. For example, he never, under any circumstances, allowed himself to play the notes - he always played the part by heart. He believed that if there is a sheet of paper between you and the public, then you are playing for paper, not for the public. Therefore, he worked a lot. He could sit at night, memorize the scores and his parts. He was always at work, always.
He was also one of the first to popularize the cello as a solo direction, since before him the cello sounded more often as part of an orchestra. And he had many students who are now continuing his work. Could you name some of them?
Olga Rostropovich: One of his students is Jacqueline Du Pré, unfortunately, she is no longer alive. There is a wonderful David Geringas and the brilliant Natalia Shakhovskaya, Natalia Gutman.
Today you are the head of the Rostropovich Foundation, which is engaged in helping young musicians. How difficult is it now to give a start to life for classical musicians, including because of the dominance of popular music?
Olga Rostropovich: It seems to me that now it is less difficult than it was before. Now there are many funds that are engaged in this. Until recently, the foundation created by my father was the only fund in Russia that really took care of talented children and helped them. Now, in a way, it's easier. And the audience, which is ready to listen and perceive classical music, has always been and always will be.
After all, classical music can literally save in a difficult situation and restore to life ...
Olga Rostropovich: And how! But not everyone understands this. Classical music is the cheapest psychologist at your disposal. And this is a touch of eternity.
When you listen to Mozart or Bach, you understand that everything else is temporary and transient. Any insults or quarrels - all this is so insignificant in comparison with music, this grace that condescends to you. But the ability to listen, understand and enjoy classical music is a blessing from God, a gift from above. After all, there are many people, highly educated and successful, who simply fall asleep with the sounds of classical music.
Do you think you are more like a father or a mother in character?
Olga Rostropovich: My dad's character is one hundred percent.
You were brought up quite strictly and even sent to study with your sister in a monastery for a high stone fence when you had to leave the USSR. Do you think it was right or too strict?
Olga Rostropovich: I think that was absolutely correct. I am just amazed how they managed to cope with us. But, of course, the time was different. I would like to send my sons to the monastery, but I can’t cope with them (laughs).
And then you left for New York?
Olga Rostropovich: When we were taken from a monastery in Switzerland, and ahead of schedule, we traveled with our parents for some time. Then we entered the Juilliard School in New York.
Do you live in Moscow now?
Olga Rostropovich: Almost all my life I lived in New York. But since dad left, I began to deal with his fund, to spend some time in Moscow. In addition, I could not and did not want to leave my mother alone, because she was very worried about his departure. He was everything to her, they madly loved each other. Father was not only her musical partner, but in the literal sense of the second half. She was so used to it that he was always there, so used to relying on him that when he was gone, her world collapsed, although outwardly she did not show it. You know, both of them had an amazing sense of humor. They communicated so sparkly with each other! I knew very little about people who could repel my father so quickly, such, you know, “hot cakes”, because he had a rather unusual sense of humor. He somehow knew how to spin everything, and the only person who could answer him just as swirlingly and just as quickly was his mother. Watching them communicate was an incredible pleasure.
However, they were still quite different in temperament ...
Olga Rostropovich: Yes, mom loved being alone. She needed loneliness, her art, her stage, her theater, she had to enter the image, think about it, for this she had to be in her world. Father, on the contrary, needed constant communication. He had so much energy that he did not know where to put it. When he went from the House of Composers to the Conservatory with his cello - a coat on one shoulder, all wide open - he was already looking for someone to talk to. If nobody was there, he could talk to the electric pole. By the way, my youngest son is all in him. When he was little, on the way to school he was looking out for someone to chat with. I could ask a person: “How are you?”, “Isn’t it hard for you to clean up the garbage?” etc.
Are your sons musicians?
Olga Rostropovich: Not. My eldest son - he is now 23 years old - wants to open his own restaurant. He even worked as a waiter, went through all the steps from the bottom, and voluntarily, no one forced him. He wanted to know "how everything works from the inside out."
He worked in two jobs as a waiter, and in the evening went to study at the university. He worked for five dollars an hour, woke up at five in the morning every day, including Sunday, and went to a restaurant. I could only shrug my hands, since, of course, there was no need for this. But with such determination, I think he will go far.
Do you have any plans for joint projects with the recently opened Dubai Opera?
Olga Rostropovich: I believe that there are prospects for cooperation. You can implement many interesting projects. For example, bring our performances of the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Center, which we presented at the festival in Sochi. Or hold a gala concert with an orchestra from the most famous arias of the world.
We will wait with impatience.
Thanks you!
Interviewed by Irina Malkova
