From Russia with love for the arts

The car transporting Alexander S. Sokolov -- minister of culture and mass communication for the Russian Federation -- slid into the driveway of downtown's New Otani Hotel recently just behind a shiny black Hummer bristling with chrome. An American passenger on the ride was about to apologize for this high-ticket, low-mpg symbol of conspicuous consumption when Sokolov observed: "This car very popular in Moscow."

Who would have guessed that Moscow believes in bling?

Sokolov, a trained violinist in his mid-50s who serves as rector and dean of music theory at Moscow's Tchaikovsky Conservatory, assumed his government post about a year ago. His main reason for a midwinter visit to L.A. was to promote this year's Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition and Festival, a joint venture of his department, the city of Los Angeles and Master Classes International, an L.A. nonprofit that brings international artists to the region. Sokolov will be among the judges for the competition, to be held June 4-18 at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

But while he was here, Sokolov was also out to help quash some of the stereotypes about each other that Americans and Russians have toted around since the Cold War. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union more than a decade ago, he quipped, most Americans still take their impression of modern Russian life from the Beatles' "Back in the USSR."

As he admired the mountain views from downtown, he acknowledged that back home Russia was blanketed in snow, but added that didn't mean life there still looks like "Doctor Zhivago."

"My mission for my generation is the renaissance of Russian culture," he declared.

Sokolov was a judge for the previous Rachmaninoff competition in 2002, but on that visit he never saw the ocean because he was sequestered at Pasadena's Civic Auditorium while pianists 30 and younger competed for a grand prize of $30,000 and a new Kawai piano. This time, he was determined to do a little exploring.

His four-day tour included a visit to Disney Hall and three hours at the Getty; an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences luncheon at Sony Studios; meetings with city and county officials; and a lavish soiree amid the French antiques at the Pacific Palisades manse of Dennis Tito, the wealthy businessman who paid a reported $20 million in 2001 to join a Russian Soyuz mission to the International Space Station.