Rostropovich in Roanoke!

On Saturday Jacob and I decided to head to downtown Roanoke for lunch. It was a beautiful day, so after eating, we decided to wander around a bit. On the weekends there are lots of vendors set up on one of the streets, selling various local goods: produce, handmade gifts, etc.

On the second block we came to a table with lots of photographs -- local landmarks, landscapes, pretty scenes. Sitting right in the middle of these lovely quiet images was a picture that stood out like a sore thumb: a graffiti covered wall with a cellist sitting, playing, in front of it. Immediately I recognized Rostropovich playing in front of the Berlin wall.

The first time I was in Berlin I went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum with my friend Alyssa. Right at the end of our visit we stumbled across some shakey tourist videos of Rostropovich playing Bach in front of the wall, filmed in the first days after the wall fell. Something inspired him to make his way to Berlin in the chaos of those first days, and set up as a street musician next to the wall to play. I was amazed to see this footage -- I was inspired to see such a timely response to events from an artist that I admired so much...

I was completely shocked to encounter this picture, there in Roanoke, outside in the street market. What was such a piece of history doing alongside all of these lovely landscapes? All I could do was stare at it for a while (I didn't realize that there were even pictures available of that impromptu street performance). I put up no argument when Jacob suggested that I accept this as an additional Christmas gift.

When we caught the attention of the man running the booth and asked him if we could buy this picture, he said, "That's the best photo here you could choose... That's the most historic thing I've ever done," and then he walked away to get us a bag. I looked at Jacob in disbelief: did this guy actually take that photo? When he came back we asked him about it; sure enough, he was the photographer. He told us all sorts of details about that time -- how he was in Dublin when the first news of the wall came, and how he got himself the first plane ticket possible. How he went to Checkpoint Charlie the next day and saw all sorts of jubilation ("there were beer and champagne bottles all over the ground. People from the west were there at the wall giving candy and anything else they could think of to the easterners crossing over..."). He said that he just happened to be in the right place at the right time when Rostropovich came to play. He even got to talk a bit with Rostropovich, his wife, and her sister.

Here's a link to a bbc article about Rostropovich with a similar photograph taken of him playing at the wall, just from a slightly different angle (also mine is in color). I took a picture of my photograph to post here, but then thought better of it (I probably shouldn't be posting someone else's artwork on the web...). But this should give you the idea, and if you want to see mine, just come visit us :)