Mstislav Rostropovich

Mstislav Rostropovich (1927–2007) — one of the greatest cellists in history, and one of the great dissidents of the Soviet era. Rostropovich sheltered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn at his dacha after The Gulag Archipelago was published, and was punished for it: banned from leaving the Soviet Union, barred from major concert halls.

The connection to Herbert involves a remarkable story. In September 1971, Doug Eaton and his future wife Joanne were in Kiev as part of a tour of the Soviet Union with nearly 50 young American lawyers. On the morning of September 9th, as the group boarded their tour bus, Joanne stood up and announced she had just learned that Rostropovich was giving a cello recital that evening in Kiev — and asked if anyone wanted to go. Doug was the only one who raised his hand. It became their first date.

Rostropovich was performing only in small, unofficial venues — banned from the main halls. The concert was in a small room with no stage. Doug and Joanne appeared to be the only foreigners in the audience. After the recital they talked with him, and he invited them to return the next night, when he performed again with student cellists. They came back — and persuaded only one other member of their group to join them, over whatever the Intourist guides had planned.