“Don’t tell anybody”

A life shaped by music, history and the courage to begin again. David Geringas was six years old when Stalin died. He grew up in Soviet Lithuania, in a Jewish family marked by war and loss, and discovered the cello almost by accident. His talent eventually took him to Moscow, where he studied with Mstislav Rostropovich, and later onto concert stages around the world. With warmth, humour and remarkable openness, Geringas tells of childhood in Vilnius, artistic life in the Soviet Union, emigration to the West and encounters with some of the twentieth century’s most important composers. He writes about family, friendship, competition, teaching and the lifelong search for artistic truth. “Don’t Tell Anybody” is both an intimate memoir and a vivid journey through European music and history.