Oleg Kagan

Oleg Moiseyevich Kagan (Russian: Оле́г Моисе́евич Кага́н; 22 November 1946[1] Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russian SFSR – 15 July 1990, Munich, West Germany) was a Soviet violinist, known for his chamber collaborations with such musicians as pianist Sviatoslav Richter, Eliso Virsaladze and cellist Natalia Gutman, his wife.

Born in Sakhalin, Kagan was brought up in Riga following his family's relocation to the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1953.

[2] He began studying at the Latvian State Conservatory in Riga at age eight under Joachim Braun; five years later, he was taken to Moscow by violinist Boris Kuznetsov.

[3] Along with Richter and Gutman, Kagan also appeared frequently with pianist Vasily Lobanov, who would later dedicate a piece to him.

Though his doctors at a hospital in Lübeck, Germany declared him too sick to be released, Kagan discharged himself to appear at his final festival, in Kreuth am Tegernsee, Bavaria.