1927-2007. Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich was a Russia cellist and conductor. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century. He started the cello at the age of 10 with his father, who was also a renowned cellist and former student of Pablo Casals. In 1945 he came to prominence as a cellist when he won the gold medal in the first ever Soviet Union competition for young musicians. His international career started in 1964 in what was then West Germany. From 1977 until 1994, he was musical director and conductor of the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC. His impromptu performance during the fall of the Berlin Wall as events unfolded earned him international fame and was shown on television throughout the world. Rostropovich was a huge influence on the younger generation of cellists.