If you could arrange a jam session, or private concert or lesson with any three musicians in history, who would you include?

Slava autographing my music

Back in the days of my musical studies, as a doctoral cello performance student at Johns Hopkins, I wrote a dissertation on Mstivslav (Slava) Rostropovich’s  influence on the music of Prokoviev.  For those who aren’t into “classical” music, just bear with me.  You see, Rostropovich was my hero as far as musicians were concerned not only because he was in my opinion, the greatest cellist who ever lived, but he was a great humanitarian who put himself on the line many times for human and artistic rights, during the Stalin regime.

No need to go into a 20th Century Cold War history lesson here, though.  I just wanted to share a bit about how one musician had such an influence on my cello playing and musical philosophy.  I met “Slava” on several occasions, and one of the most memorable was going backstage after one of his concerts with the New Jersey Symphony along with a former professor of the Kiev Conservatory, Vladimir Pantaleyev–my last cello instructor.  I was working on my doctoral thesis and spoke with Slava about it.  By the end of our short visit, I had the honor of Slava autographing my cello part for Prokofiev’s Symphony Concerto op. 125, a piece written for him, and the main part of my dissertation.

Back in the day

I now treasure this tangential piece of musical history, though I regret never having the opportunity to play for, or with Slava.  His spirit lives on, though, in recordings, the memories of his fans, students, and friends–and certainly in mine.

So, if you could arrange a jam session, or private concert or lesson with any three musicians in history, who would you include?  Feel free to discuss in the comments at the very bottom of this page.

Rostropovich performing Prokofiev’s Symphony Concerto op. 125

Joshua Graham is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, winner of the International Book Award and Forward National Literature Award. His thrillers include DARKROOM, LATENT IMAGE and BEYOND JUSTICE, and TERMINUS. Graham's works have been characterized as thought-provoking page-turners.

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