1903-1976. Gregor Piatigorsky was born on April 17, 1903 in Ekaterinoslav, Ukraine. He began the cello at the age of 7. Two years later, Piatigorsky left home and made his way to the Moscow Conservatory of Music. By the age of fifteen he was both principal cellist of the Bolshoi Opera Orchestra and a member of the famed "Beethoven String Quartet", later renamed the "Lenin String Quartet." He briefly served as principal cellist of the Warsaw Symphony and then made his way to Leipzig to join the class of famed cellist and pedagogue, Julius Klengel. Following his studies in Leipzig, Piatigorsky moved to Berlin to seek employment and soon became the principal cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic. After a few years with the Berlin Philharmonic, Piatigorsky embarked on what was to become a legendary solo career. He traveled throughout the world with his cello demonstrating its extraordinary qualities to people everywhere, from the largest cities to the smallest towns. His mission was to show the beauty and nobility of the cello's voice the world over. It is a testament to Gregor Piatigorsky's career that perhaps the most famous classical instrumentalist today is a cellist, Yo-Yo Ma. In 1949, he relocated to Los Angeles, first teaching at UCLA and later in 1962 joining violinist Jascha Heifetz on the faculty of the University of Southern California where he spent much of his time teaching and performing chamber music.