Nikolai Petrov | Russian pianist, 68

Russian pianist Nikolai Petrov, 68, died Wednesday in a Moscow hospital after suffering a stroke a few months before.

Mr. Petrov suffered a stroke in May while touring in Belarus and had since been in the hospital in severe condition.

Mr. Petrov was born in 1943 into a family of musicians. He started touring in the early 1960s and was one of the few Soviet pianists to play abroad during the Cold War. He performed with symphony orchestras in New York and Washington, as well as top European orchestras. But Mr. Petrov had always regarded the Moscow Conservatory as his main stage.

Mr. Petrov kept touring around the globe until the May stroke, playing 70 to 100 concerts a year.

"He had lots of opportunities to emigrate," Russian pianist Denis Matsuev told the ITAR-TASS news agency. "But his heart was here and it ached for what was happening in the country." - AP