 "His playing combines poetry and exquisite delicacy with great temperament and brilliant technique." Mstislav Rostropovich
1948 Born 10 January in Riga, Latvia
1956 Begins first music lessons in Riga, where he attends the Children's Music School and Conservatory
1962 Enters the Leningrad Conservatory
1965 His début with the Leningrad Philharmonic this year earns him the nickname "Rostropovich of the Future"
1966 Prizewinner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow; begins studies with Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory while pursuing a concert career throughout the former Soviet Union
1970 Imprisoned in a labour camp near Gorky for 18 months; following his release he emigrates from the USSR
1973 Settles in Israel; having won the 1973 Gaspar Cassadó International Cello Competition in Florence, makes his début at New York's Carnegie Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under William Steinberg; after the concert an anonymous admirer gives him an 18th-century Montagnana cello on which he still performs today
1974 Studies with the legendary Gregor Piatigorsky, thus becoming the only cellist to have studied with both Piatigorsky and Rostropovich; this year appears as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic
1975 Beginning of his international career, with regular concerts throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and the Far East, especially in Japan
1976 London concerto début with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
1977 London recital début with pianist Radu Lupu
1982 First recording for Deutsche Grammophon: Brahms's Double Concerto with Gidon Kremer and the Wiener Philharmoniker under Leonard Bernstein
1985 Signs his first exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon; two important CD Bach releases this year: the Cello (Gamba) Sonatas with Martha Argerich and Maisky's first recording of the Six Solo Suites
1987 Released on Deutsche Grammophon: Haydn Concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Schumann Concerto with Bernstein and the Wiener Philharmoniker
1989 CD releases include recordings of Dvo¸ák's Cello Concerto and Bloch's Schelomo with Leonard Bernstein and the Israel Philharmonic (Record Academy Prize, Tokyo), and of Elgar's Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with Giuseppe Sinopoli and the Philharmonia, as well as Meditation, a collection of short Romantic pieces with pianist Pavel Gililov
1992 First appearance at the Proms in London; released on CD this year: Beethoven Cello Sonatas op.5 with Martha Argerich and Adagio, an anthology of Romantic pieces, with the Orchestre de Paris under Semyon Bychkov
1993 Gives a recital with Martha Argerich, one of his most important musical partners, at the Salzburg Festival; releases include Beethoven's Cello Sonatas opp.69 & 102 with Argerich
1994 Issued on CD this year: the two Shostakovich Cello Concertos with Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra
1995 Returns to Moscow for the first time after a 23-year absence to give a concert and to record works by Prokofiev and Miaskovsky for Deutsche Grammophon with Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra; CD release this year: a coupling of Vivaldi and Boccherini concertos with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (Echo Award 1996)
1996 Appears at the Salzburg Festival with pianist Daria Hovora; their Schubert CD collaboration Songs Without Words is released this year
1997 CD releases include a Tchaikovsky disc with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Songs Without Words by Brahms (with Pavel Gililov)
1998 In May appears together with Martha Argerich and Gidon Kremer in Tokyo performing piano trios by Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky (recorded live by DG and released in 1999, Echo Award 2000); CD releases: Cellissimo with pianist Daria Hovora, a collection of shorter pieces spanning the centuries from Bach to Bloch; and a Saint-Saëns selection with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Daria Hovora (Echo Award 1999)
1999 CD releases: a French collection entitled Après un rêve (with Daria Hovora), the Brahms Sonatas (with Pavel Gililov), and his second recording of the Bach Suites, which receives wide critical acclaim
2000 Dedicates the year mostly to Johann Sebastian Bach, beginning with a "Bach Marathon" on 2 January in Zurich, where he plays all of Bach's works for cello (the Solo Suites and Sonatas with harpsichord) in three concerts on a single day, and giving over 100 Bach concerts in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China, Australia, North and South America, and most European countries during the course of the year; Maisky's CD releases this year: a Schumann disc, including the Cello Concerto with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and chamber works with Martha Argerich
2001 A recording of Maisky and Argerich Live in Japan (sonatas by Chopin, Franck, and Debussy) is released this year
2002 Japan tour in June; recitals with Martha Argerich at Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center; trio recital with Martha Argerich and Gidon Kremer at Carnegie Hall; duo recital with Sergio Tiempo at the Salzburg Festival; summer appearances at Saratoga in Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Argerich, violinist Ida Haendel, Charles Dutoit, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as a Schumann/Shostakovich trio recital there with Argerich and violinist Vadim Repin; CD release of Mendelssohn's Cello Sonatas with pianist Sergio Tiempo; recordings in Berlin of the Brahms G minor Piano Quartet with Argerich, Kremer, and Bashmet in March, and the Dvorák Cello Concerto and Strauss's Don Quixote with Zubin Mehta and the Berliner Philharmoniker in December
2003 Appearances include concerts and recitals at the festivals of Verbier, Dubrovnik, and Torroella, as well as throughout western and eastern Europe; a tour of the Far East (Dvorák Concerto) followed by a European tour; for DG: live recording in Brussels with Argerich of cello sonatas by Prokofiev and Shostakovich and Stravinsky's Suite italienne
2004 Concerts with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra in Riga and on tour in Spain and Germany; appearances in Rome with Chung and the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia, in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, in Lisbon with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, in Paris with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and in Baltimore and Washington DC with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; extensive performances of the Dvorák Concerto, including a tour with the Czech Philharmonic; on tour in Japan with the Prague Radio Orchestra; recitals and chamber music appearances in Europe, the USA, Korea, Japan, and at the Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, and Salzburg festivals; CD releases: Dvorák and Strauss, with Mehta and the Berliner Philharmoniker, and chamber music by Brahms and Schumann, with Argerich, Kremer, and Bashmet
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