Childhood and youth
Maria Eshpai is a native Muscovite, born in the depths of winter in 1986. Both of Masha’s grandfathers are famous people. Maternal grandfather Pavel Vasilyevich Stankevich (Simonov) is a psychologist and biophysicist who studied higher nervous activity, the author of a formula for the emergence and direction of emotions. His paternal grandfather, Andrei Yakovlevich Eshpai, is a composer who wrote numerous symphonies and popular songs (“And it’s snowing,” “Two Shores,” “Seryozhka with Malaya Bronnaya”).
Maria Eshpai in childhood / VKontakte
The pianist’s mother is the main princess of the Soviet Union, actress Evgenia Simonova, who woke up famous after the release of “An Ordinary Miracle.” Father is director Andrei Eshpai, creator of 13 films, the most famous of which is the series “Children of the Arbat”. Maria has an older sister - the daughter of Evgenia Simonova from her first marriage, artist Zoya Kaidanovskaya.
Her parents and grandfather-composer quickly sensed Masha’s calling to music and, when she was less than 5 years old, sent the girl to the Central Music School, whose graduates include famous performers and composers Alexandra Pakhmutova, Vladimir Spivakov, and Mikhail Pletnev.
Music and films
After graduating from TsSSMSH, Maria studied at the school at the capital's conservatory. The machine teacher, Honored Artist, Professor Irina Viktorovna Osipova, contributed to the development of the girl’s performing skills, and already during her studies, Simonova-Eshpay won a festival held in the capital of Great Britain, and then gave a solo piano concert in London’s St. Martin’s Cathedral.
Maria Eshpai in her youth / VKontakte
In 2011, the pianist completed her studies in Moscow and entered graduate school at the Aarhus Conservatory, the second largest city in Denmark. In 2012, the pianist made her debut in the great hall of the Copenhagen Conservatory and received a scholarship from the Danish Aigil Harbus Foundation. The pianist now has concerts in Estonia, Greece, Germany, the USA and other countries.
A significant place in Maria Eshpai’s work is occupied by the popularization of her grandfather’s legacy. The girl performed as a soloist at a concert dedicated to the 90th anniversary of composer Andrei Eshpai, which took place at the Moscow Conservatory in May 2020. Masha played without looking at the notes, because she knew her grandfather’s compositions by heart. In April 2017, the pianist performed her grandfather’s works at concerts in the Moscow Yuri Bashmet Center.
Maria Eshpai
Published by Peter Kolchin. Photo report as art Tuesday, December 11, 2020
Pianist Maria Eshpai
Masha also tried herself in the acting field - she played small roles in several films made by her father. By the way, the director’s wife and adopted daughter constantly star in Andrei Eshpai Jr.’s films. Uncle Mashin, the creator and permanent host of the TV quiz show for schoolchildren, Yuri Vyazemsky, does not see anything wrong with this. Maria also starred in the documentary film “Dynasty”, dedicated to the Simonov-Eshpay family.
“Star of the era” escaped trial? Children of Simonov and Serova: “Our parents were slandered!”
The children of Konstantin Simonov and Valentina Serova are not going to go to court, not wanting to advertise the film “Star of the Epoch”. Alexey Simonov, president of the Glasnost Defense Foundation, generally refuses to discuss this picture and in any way evaluate the performance of the artists who played the Poet and Actress, as written in the credits. The relatives demanded that the real names of the heroes Konstantin Simonov and Valentina Serova be removed as soon as the script, written based on the book by Natalya Pushnova, was read, and at this point they considered their mission completed.
“I had 16 pages of comments on the script, my sister Marya had 12 pages,” Alexei Simonov told the Privy Councilor. — Moreover, the script came to us already when the film was being filmed and the advertising campaign began. I believe that we have done enough - the maximum that we could. I’m very glad that the public perceived this disgrace in the same way as we did. But I won’t go to court, I’m not going to advertise to the creators of this picture, and they are just waiting for this.
Alexey Kirillovich himself is going to shoot a two-part documentary about his father, which is planned to be aired next fall.
...This scandal turned out to be instructive in many ways. As it turned out, it is impossible even for close relatives to protect the memory and good name of their parents years after their death, no matter how much they oppose, as Alexei Simonov put it, “historical looting.” Indeed, despite the fact that the name of the series was changed (in the original it sounded like Simonov’s poetic line “Love for you is like a disaster”) and the authors of the film, at the request of relatives, were forced to remove from the film all the poems of Konstantin Simonov, which were recited by the leading actor Alexander Domogarov, completely It’s clear who this picture is about.
Not only the relatives of Simonov and Serova have complaints about the film; the grandson of Marshal Rokossovsky (in the film he was renamed Rodonovsky), his full namesake Konstantin Rokossovsky, also made a sharp assessment, whose copyrights can also be considered violated.
“People from Rokossovsky’s entourage, and above all the military, listened with surprise to stories about the imaginary romance and sincerely laughed,” he said in one of the interviews. “After all, the commander was in sight all the time, and his personal life, believe me, was known to him.” colleagues. By the way, she was not so cloudless, my grandfather was not a saint, especially during the war... He met one woman - military doctor Galina Talanova. She was with him throughout the war and gave birth to a daughter. Both his family and associates knew all this. They also knew that Rokossovsky was torn between two beloved women, one of whom was enduring the hardships of the front next to him, and the other was waiting for him at home. She was always waiting for him - both when he was imprisoned in Kresty on false charges, and when he went to the front. Valentina Serova had no place in this love triangle. And one can imagine how out of place and out of place this famous actress was with her famous love.
Maria Kirillovna Simonova, the daughter of Valentina Serova and Konstantin Simonov, learned that a film was being made about her parents quite by accident. “Everything in the film is not true,” she says. - And her relationship with Simonov and Rokossovsky, with whom she did not have an affair, and the last years of her life, when she allegedly begged. A woman who is no longer alive is humiliated, and she cannot answer anything. And I will never forgive Kara for this.”
Director Yuri Kara has a reputation as a scandalous and unlucky director. The fate of the film “The Master and Margarita”, in which all the stars of Russian cinema starred, is worth it. Having disappeared without a trace, the painting became yet another myth about the “Bulgakov curse.” And now - a new scandal.
However, the very basis of the script is the book “Valentina Serova. Circle of Alienation” by Natalya Pushnova had a long and scandalous reputation even before the film’s release. The plot of the book is entirely based on rumors and speculation surrounding the life of the Stalin-era star Valentina Serova. Here’s how, for example, Natalya Pushnova writes about her heroine:
“The star of the Soviet screen was still alive, but she was already buried in gossip. Often, oh how often, strangers whispered behind her back:
- Look, it's Serova!
- Serova? Look, Serova!
- It can’t be, she hanged herself!
- Poisoned!
- I got drunk!
And she also walked along snow-covered or muddy Moscow sidewalks...”
But the author tells the actress’s life story from hearsay and constantly emphasizes this fact. There is nothing to complain about from a legal point of view. But in the film, numerous fables have become an immutable reality, and the viewer can no longer figure out where the truth is and where the lies are.
So if, after all, the heirs of Serova and Simonov decide to go to court, then according to the Copyright Law (Article 48), products released in violation of the law (and the filmmakers had to obtain written permission from the heirs regarding the use of any materials and topics, related to the personal lives of the characters) is automatically recognized as counterfeit. With all the ensuing consequences. This means that the film may never be released on television again. This, apparently, will happen if the producers of “Stars of the Epoch” make a sequel with the participation of the same heroes. In this case, the children of Konstantin Simonov and Valentina Serova will have no choice but to contact the judicial authorities... And rumors about such a continuation of the television series are already actively being circulated in the press; Channel One itself has not yet given any official comments.
Irina MOLCHANOVA
Personal life
Maria is a reserved and secretive person. If the Internet is full of facts about the biography of the pianist’s older sister (the names of Zoya Kaidanovskaya’s three spouses and her two children are known, the reasons for divorce and rumors about a stormy adolescence are discussed), then Simonova-Eshpay’s personal life is classified, almost like the daughters of Vladimir Putin.
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Evgenia Simonova, Maria Eshpai, Andrey Eshpai, Ivan Emelyanov and Zoya Kaidanovskaya
Mashin’s grandfather, shortly before his death, said in an interview that his granddaughter had fallen in love with a great guy - a Danish drummer. The pianist's mother claims that Maria has a husband. But whether it was the drummer from Denmark who became the husband of the heir to the famous dynasty is unknown.
Maria Eshpai does not have an Instagram account. She is registered on VKontakte (it is not difficult to find the pianist - she is the only person with that first and last name on this social network). Photos on the pianist’s page indicate that Maria is very similar to her mother in her youth.
Personal life of Evgenia Simonova
The actress was married three times and has two daughters from different marriages. True, even in her youth she became interested in a young man, Yuri Vasiliev. But their relationship did not receive a serious continuation, because the girl met another man who completely conquered her. Previous hobbies were quickly forgotten.
Ex-husband Alexander Kaidanovsky
The filming of “The Lost Expedition” was underway, and Evgenia was invited to participate in it. There she had the chance to meet Andrei, and as the actress herself admitted later, she could not help but immediately fall in love with him.
The romance soon grew into marriage, and a daughter, Zoya, was born in the marriage. But something didn’t work out in this family, and the couple separated after 4 years.
For reference! The details of the divorce are unknown; the press was practically not interested in the family life of the actors at that time.
Former husband Dmitry Polonsky
Soon Evgeniy met Dima, with whom she did not live long - a year later the marriage broke up due to circumstances unknown to the public at that time. Dmitry was 3 years younger than the actress, a man of a creative profession. He acted in films and dubbed foreign films. At that time, his voice was familiar to many fans of foreign cinema.
Husband Andrey Eshpai
This actor, producer and director became Evgenia’s final choice, her third husband, with whom she had lived for many years. The marriage was strengthened by their common interests and the birth of their second daughter, Maria, in 1985.
Andrey is from a famous family of Soviet composers, talented and hardworking. By the time he met Simonova, he was already in demand, not only as an actor, but also as a successful documentary director. She has many awards and is not inferior in popularity to her star wife.
Maria Eshpai now
In January 2020, at the Moscow Philharmonic, a Russian pianist performed works by Beethoven, Stravinsky and, of course, Masha’s grandfather, composer Andrei Eshpai. On January 19, 2019, Maria repeated the experience of performing on the stage of the Philharmonic on a personal holiday.
Maria Eshpai / VKontakte
This time, in addition to Eshpai’s works, the music of George Gershwin and Sergei Rachmaninov was played, and Zoya Kaidanovskaya performed the vocal parts. The name of the musical evenings, which are becoming a tradition, is symbolic, because Maria’s surname is translated from the Mari language as “good friend.”
Currently, Maria Eshpai lives in England and is still friends with her sister and mother. In March 2020, 2 significant events took place in Maria’s biography: the premiere on the Russia-1 channel of her father’s new film, the multi-part film “Tell the Truth,” for which Masha composed the music, and participation in the work of the jury of the Andrei Eshpay competition for young performers in Yoshkar -Ole.
