How Did Rostropovich Die?

Rostropovich died in a Moscow cancer hospital, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. He is reported to have suffered from intestinal cancer. He served as the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. for nearly 20 years during his exile to the U.S.

When did Rostropovich defect?

In response to the 10 February 1948 decree on so-called 'formalist' composers, his teacher Dmitri Shostakovich was dismissed from his professorships in Leningrad and Moscow; the 21-year-old Rostropovich quit the conservatory, dropping out in protest.

Was Rostropovich a good conductor?

Rostropovich as a conductor was that he sometimes became so carried away with the music that he let the performance get out of his control.