Legendary cellist Rostropovich dies 1 hour, 6 minutes ago Legendary Russian cellist and emblem of resistance to the Soviet system Mstislav Rostropovich died Friday, his spokeswoman told AFP. He was 80. "He died in hospital today," Natalya Dolezhal said. Rostropovich had been ill for some time and had been receiving treatment at a Moscow cancer clinic. He was born in Baku and studied in Moscow under the celebrated composers Dmitry Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev. He went on to a glittering international career, much of it spent abroad after he was persecuted, then expelled in 1974 by the Soviet authorities. He...