Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Ivashkin studied at the Gnessin Institute, where his teachers included Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Valery Polyansky. He also played electric cello, viola da gamba, sitar and piano. Ivashkin became co-principal cellist of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. In 1978, he founded the Bolshoi Soloists, a new chamber orchestra.