Russian National Orchestra founder and director Mikhail Pletnev had suffered a foot injury while hiking on the eve of the orchestra's first Hollywood Bowl concert. Associate director Dmitri Liss was tapped to fill Pletnev’s spot at the podium that first night — a daunting assignment no matter what your preparation.

There is a Russian saying that “Nature ignores the children of geniuses.” Nothing could be less true in the case of Masha Mironova, 26. All the more so since her famous father, Andrei Mironov, was also the son of renowned actors.

The non-descript coffee shop on Moscow’s Pokrovka street is a popular hangout for bohemians and young, middle-class Russians. When asked where she would be most comfortable (meaning near the window or at the rear of the café), 25-year-old Yelena Morozova answers, without missing a beat, “On Venus.?

As a young boy, Igor Ovchinnikov, now 35, read lots of travel books and dreamed of becoming a train engineer. But his dream was dashed in 8th grade. 

Yevgeny Plyushchenko, 18, is the golden boy of figure skating. Not because he is a son of some VIPs or former champions. Not even because he likes to perform in bright, at times  provocative costumes.

Mathematician, internet pioneer and businessman, Nikolai Repin is a serious character. Even curt digressions into his former hobby (“sailing”) or family life (“a wife and a little daughter”) are matter-of-fact and give no cause for even a smile of pride. Life is not a joking matter to 41-year-old Nikolai Repin.

It takes an extraordinary tennis player to unseat Pete Sampras in three straight sets in a Grand Slam final. Marat Safin is that player.

Maxim Sokolov, 41, hardly looks the part of a Russian TV journalist. The stocky, bearded writer looks more like a 19th century Russian kupets who you can picture calling out to a waiter in the traktir, “Hey, man! Bring twenty bliny! And don’t forget the salmon!

Maria Yeliseyeva, 36, had been working for years with children and the arts—she had an art studio attached to the local House of Pioneers, plus a puppet theater. But just over seven years ago, she happened to visit Orphanage #103 in Moscow’s Lefortovo district. 

Historian Olga Yeliseyeva, 34, represents a new breed of Russian historians: young scientists who have cast off the ideological constraints of their predecessors.

Marina Zhgivaleva has been drawing since age three. When she was young, her pencils, colors and sheets of paper were her most beloved toys. She lived in a magic world all her own, one inhabited by fascinating creatures which she created in her drawings: animals, trees, plants, flowers, fruits, birds, people.

In early May, Sergei “Seppa” Zobnev will turn 35. And when all the members of his folk band Myllarit (“The Millers”) gather round to hoist a toast in his honor, they will surely praise his multiple roles as band director, backup vocalist, public relations manager and organizer.