This photograph of my brother Arkady was taken after his graduation from the Leningrad Conservatoire.
My brother Arkady was the youngest child in our family: he was born in 1935. Since his childhood he was aptitude for music.
As a child, he played balalaika and guitar (he managed without any assistance), and at that time he even was not able to climb onto the chair.
When parents came to Kuibyshev, they sent him to musical school (it did not stop studies during the war time). There he studied in the violin class.
He achieved much success in it and was their best pupil. His teacher invited my mother and said 'If you want Arkady to become a musician, it is necessary to bring him to Leningrad or to Moscow.
In Kuibyshev we cannot give him education of proper level.' I lived in Leningrad and Mum brought him to me. At that time he was a pupil of the 4th or 5th class.
I brought him to musical school at Conservatoire and they admitted him, because of his absolute pitch. That was a boarding school. He finished it and entered Conservatoire. Mother supported him financially and he worked part-time.
I was not able to give him financial assistance him, because I had already got family. But he often visited us. He never was hungry. He graduated from the Conservatoire and was invited to work at the new Novosibirsk orchestra. He left for Novosibirsk, and he still lives there and plays at that philharmonic orchestra.
Though he is already 70 years old, they don't permit him to retire. He is a very conscientious person. He helps the conductor to rehearse young musicians. Arkady is also very responsible. He often goes abroad on tour with his orchestra; he likes to travel all over the world.
He has got a son and a wife.
His wife is not a musician, therefore it is hard for him to have no close friend to talk about music. So when we meet, we talk about music day and night long. My brother's wife is Russian. Her name is Galina.
Their son Dmitry was born in 1965.
Galina worked as a personnel manager at a large enterprise in Novosibirsk and she still works, though she is a pensioner.
Their son graduated from a Novosibirsk college as a physicist, but at present he is engaged to business. His family is well-to-do.
