Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich

Rostropovich, Mstislav Leopoldovich (1927– ), Soviet cellist, who has had works created for him by many composers. From the mid-1970s he and his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, lived outside the USSR. He became conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, D.C., in 1977. In 1990 he returned to Russia.