FCG International Scenic Arts Award 2002:

Mstislav Rostropovich

The Jury of the FCG International Scenic Arts Award in a meeting held in Valladolid, and composed of the following distinguished personalities: Mr. Víctor Manuel Burell, Scenic Arts critic of "Punto de las Artes" and "Cinco Días" Newspaper; Mr. Eutiquiano "Oti" Rodríguez Marchante, Scenic Arts critic of ABC Newspaper; Mr. Daniel Pérez Fernández, playwright and theatre director of the Teatro Principal of Zamora; Mr. Andrés Ruiz Tarazona, Cultural Adviser for the Autonomous Region of Madrid and Mrs. Mercedes Guillamón Duch, manager of Teatro Calderón, Valladolid, with Mrs. Mercedes Guillamón Duch presiding the meeting and Mr. Daniel Pérez Fernández acting as secretary, decided by majority vote to award the FCG International Scenic Arts Prize to MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH.  This decision was made because he combines great humane and artistic qualities which, along with the international recognition he has received, have contributed in an outstanding manner to universal culture in general and in particular to the extension of musical repertoire as well as collaborating in the defence of human rights.

Mstislav Rostropovich

In March of 1988, he received the Gold Medal of the Goethe for his merit in cultural labor in the Federal Republic of Germany. That year he was also awarded the Gold Medal of Fine Arts of the Castile and Leon Council. In 1989, he received the Montaigne Award, of the F.V.S. Foundation of Hamburg for his renovation work of musical language and human content of his work.

He belongs to the Academy of European Sciences, he is a member of the Council of the Prince Pierre de Monaco Foundation, as well as the Emst von Siemens Foundation of Munich (Germany). The Fordermeinschaft der Europaeischen Wirtschaft Foundation awarded him the European Composer of 1994 Award.

In November of 1994 he received the Spanish Music Award from the Jacinto e Inocencio Guerrero Foundation.

Among his latest premieres stand out the following: January 1996 in Dresden (Germany) his work “Memento a Dresden” commissioned by the Philharmonic orchestra of that city to commemorate the 125^th anniversary of its foundation. In “Memento a Dresden” the victims of the bombardment of 1945 are paid tribute where this city was victim as well as its “symbolic sisters” Guernica, Conventry and Hiroshima.

In March 1997 he premiered in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under his conduction, the work “Odradek” that this orchestra had commissioned him to do, in order to celebrate the first centenary of its existence. “Odradek” is a tribute that the composer pays to Franz Kafka, at the same time the important commemoration is celebrated by the orchestra of the birth city of the writer.

In February 2000, his opera “Don Quijote” premiered in the Royal Theater of Madrid, a performance that caused a stir in world-wide reviews. Since that same year, he is an Associate Composer of the Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid.

In August 2002, his Fourth String Quartet premiered in the International Festival of Schleswig Holstein by the Veemer Quartet. In that Festival, he conducted the International Resident Orchestra in various concerts with his works.

In January 2003, the Philaharmonic Orchestra of the City of Malaga dedicates him the 9^th  Contemporary Musical Cycle, which is celebrated during the entire month nine concerts in which his symphonic and production work is included.

In August 2003, in the International Festival of Salzburg his latest symphonic work will premiere, “Adagio en forma de Rondo”, a work commissioned by the festival for the Symphonic Orchestra of Vienna that will interpret the first world-wide audition under the conduction of Semyon Bychkov.

At the same time he continues with his constant conducting activity where he has planned for the upcoming years to be at the head of the most important Spanish and European orchestras.

Since October 2001, he has belonged to the Colegio Libre de Eméritos.