MA SICONG AND HIS ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE MUSICAL CULTURE
This article focuses on the life and creative activities of Ma Sicong, one of the most significant Chinese musicians of the mid-XX<sup>th</sup> century, a multi-talented and outstanding violinist who showed his prowess in various spheres of artistic life: performing, teaching, composing, musical and social activities. Ma Sicong contributed to each of these fields as a virtuoso soloist whose example was followed by his contemporaries, young musicians and as a teacher who trained numerous students retaining the most enthusiastic memories of their professor. The highly professional violin school he established, which continued Chinese and European musical traditions, became a fruitful source for the development of modern performing arts. Ma Sicong's creative life was not an easy one; periods of brilliant achievements and growth alternated with dramatic peripeteia, which led to his departure from China in the most difficult historical period for the country - the period of the "Cultural Revolution" (late 1950<sup>s</sup> - early 1970<sup>s </sup>).