Ignat Solzhenitsyn: how the son of a great writer became a successful American musician

The son of the outstanding Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn Ignat found his calling in the United States. He lives in New York and is a famous pianist and conductor.

Since 1998, Ignat Solzhenitsyn has been the chief conductor of the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, as well as the chief guest conductor of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, giving 70 concerts a year.

Ignat was born in Moscow in the 1972 year, the boy was only one and a half years old when the Solzhenitsyn family set off for the forced 18-year exile. First to Europe, and then to the USA.

The hostility between his father, the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and the Soviet regime dates back to the reign of Joseph Stalin. At the front, in personal correspondence and conversations during World War II, the writer often criticized the dictator, which did not go unnoticed by the KGB - he was arrested in 1945. After this there were 8 years in prison, exile and rehabilitation in 1957.

By 1963, his relationship with the authorities deteriorated again, and in 1966, he engaged in dissidence, delivered speeches and lectures, and arranged readings of his works. In response, the Soviet government expelled him from the Writers' Union and began a campaign against him in the press.

In 1970, Solzhenitsyn was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and as a result the prize was awarded to him. From the first publication of Solzhenitsyn’s work to the award of the award, the entire 8 years passed - there was no such thing in the history of the Nobel Prize for literature either before or after.

His books began to be actively published in Europe and the USA. After the publication of another of them, “The Gulag Archipelago,” in 1974, the leadership of the USSR decided to expel the writer from the country. He was deprived of his citizenship of the Soviet Union and sent into exile, flown to Germany (Federal Republic of Germany). From that moment on, Solzhenitsyn’s family lived in Switzerland for several years, and then moved to the USA, the site writes Litra.ru.

According to Ignat, he started playing the piano only because in a house in Vermont, where the family moved from Europe, there was an armchair piano among the old furniture, writes “Our Texas".

“I was drawn to him, I tried to select melodies on my own,” the musician admitted.

A close friend of the parents, Mstislav Rostropovich, who had come to visit, when he heard the game of Ignat, asked who the teacher was. After that, the parents noticed his craving for music.

“Rostropovich insisted that I should take lessons. True, 2 years of classes with the first teacher were not progressive. Then Mstislav Leopoldovich intervened again, took matters into his own hands and found me a teacher himself. He became the assistant of pianist R. Serkin. As soon as I started studying for real, 2 times a week, I firmly decided to become a musician. Life, of course, is very short, and unfortunately, there is not enough time for everything that I want to read, see and understand, but in terms of choosing who to become, I had no doubts. I consider this very rare and lucky,” said Ignat.

He gave the first public concert in 10 years. In 14, Ignat was sent to study music in England. His piano teacher was Maria Curcio in London.

He also graduated from the Philadelphia Curtis Institute of Music in two specialties - pianist and conductor, write “NEWS".

Ignat Solzhenitsyn made his debut on the Russian stage in 1993 with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rostropovich.

The very first love in music Solzhenitsyn calls Beethoven and says that over the years this feeling has not changed.

“There is an opinion that Beethoven’s late works should not be touched until a certain age - up to forty years. This idea is worthy of respect, I understand where it comes from, however, it seems wrong to me. I believe that you need to get acquainted with the best examples of art early. The sooner you start, the more you will understand over time. It is important that the right dose of reverence and a clear understanding that you are touching something, if not sacred, then the highest achieved by man, prevail in the performer. For example, it is very important for a musician to treat his compositions with respect and caution,” says Ignat.

He also got to know the complicated and unchildish works of his father very early.

“My father read aloud to my brothers and I from Matryonin’s Dvor, excerpts from Ivan Denisovich and The Red Wheel. I think I was about 6 years old at the time. Of course, as children we could not understand what an adult reader would understand. But in fact, great literature and great music speak to a person in different periods of life in different ways. Pushkin, Shakespeare and even “War and Peace” can be read at 10, 40, and 80 years old. In all cases, there will be interest, benefit and new sensations that are not typical for other ages,” said the musician.

After the collapse of the USSR, Ignat’s parents returned to Russia.

“For my father, the question “to return to Russia or not” was never a choice. He knew for sure that he would return. In the entire history of the USSR, there were only 2 people who were forcibly expelled from the country - Trotsky and Solzhenitsyn. If Brezhnev had changed course and the return was allowed, my father would have returned earlier. The question was whether they would be allowed to return, not only physically, but also with books - my father did not imagine returning without them,” said Ignat, adding that they knew about the difficult situation in the country, but this did not stop them .

For Ignat, their departure did not become an injury, since he had long lived in England and was used to the great distance between him and his parents, writes MIGnews.

“When I was asked whether the turning point was when my parents returned to Russia, I answered: yes and no. It became a turning point for our family, as significant as the fact of returning was. But in the sense that there were long distances between us, no, we got used to it,” he said.

Ignat Solzhenitsyn lived in England and Switzerland, but according to him, Russia and the USA are home to him.

“These two countries are closely connected for me and are somewhat similar. Russia is now going through a difficult period, including relations with America, which are again becoming strained. I hate to see this, but it seems that this situation should not be compared with the Cold War. I still wanted both countries to be friends and cooperate. Maybe this is the naive view of a musician far from politics, but I want to believe in changes for the better,” Solzhenitsyn noted.

The musician considers his main repertoire to be works by German composers - Bruckner, Brahms, Beethoven. Loves to perform works by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich.

With tours, he visited many countries, traveled all over Europe, America, performed in Japan, Australia and Russia.

Ignat Solzhenitsyn is a laureate of the Avery Fisher Prize.

In the film about his father “Solzhenitsyn. On the Last Reach" the music of Mozart and Brahms is heard in the Meymandi concert hall, performed by an orchestra led by Ignat.

Ignat Solzhenitsyn married in the 1999 year, he and his wife Carolyn are raising 3 children.

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