Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 3 · column 5 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
On the heels of Rappahannock’s Soviet visitors last month - ambassadors in the era of Glasnost - comes a Russian musician, who combines his concerts with commentary on what he calls “the lie of Glasnost."
The defected cellist, Vsevolod Lezhnev, is a musician first, but he carries a message to those communities he visits in the Virginia Commission for the Arts “Arts on The Road Program,” a program that has chosen Rappahannock to receive three of its travelling artists.
“I talk about both things - music and politics - because I don’t believe one thing should be separated from the other,” says Lezhnev. In 1969 the Moscowborn cellist was among the first Soviet artists to defect to the United States. Defection was like “your James Bond movies,” he says, except it was real. While touring as assistant principal cellist with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra he decided he could not go back. “I wanted to. be free.”
Now, Sieva Lezhnev lectures and plays his cello for schools, churches and civic groups. He tells audiences “why I had to risk
and I did risk - my life to come to this country." He has made it his task to counter what he calls the current "Soviet Peace Offensive.” Educating students about life in the Soviet Union is most important, he believes.
“1 am not a politician. I am a cellist, a conductor," he says. His instrument proves his point a JIMt-year-old cello, the focus of his presentations. He demonstrates the instrument's versatility by playing music of many epochs, from Bach to jazz to contemporary Russian music. This accomplished musician graduated stuiima cum laudc from the Moscow Conservatory, and traveled worldwide with the Moscow State String Quartet. He is now assistant principal cellist with the Pittsburgh Sym
68.9%