Cold comfort

In the late 1980s, British pianist James Kirby braved cold, hunger and totalitarian rule to study in Moscow. Here he shares his memories with

- Anthony Cheng

The year was 1987. The Soviet Union, under leader Mikhail Gorbachev, was approaching its final chapters. As if to catch the dying embers of the USSR, recently graduated pianist James Kirby left his life in the West behind to head to Moscow to study at the age of 22.

A close school friend drove him from east London to Heathrow Terminal 1 for a 9:40am flight. 'The flight number was BA872.' The number immediately rolls off his tongue. 'I was feeling quite anxious on the way there.' But a meeting at the airport before check-in may have calmed his nerves a little. He crossed paths with cellist Matthew Barley. Both of their tickets bore the same destination: Moscow, to study at the Moscow Conservatory.

'We both seemed inappropriately dressed for the Moscow winter,' remembers Kirby. 'My parents had bought me a Barbour jacket, not exactly warm but resilient. I think I remember Matthew donning a bright red Gore-Tex jacket. We got on straight away.'

They boarded the plane, ready to be hurtled across the globe into a whole new world, government, culture and society. 'We didn’t have a clue what lay ahead of us,' chuckles Barley. 'It was a proper adventure. No forwarding address or telephone numbers to give to relatives. At home, nobody knew what we were up to.'

It was very hard to find much information about the student hostel, but Kirby and Barley were more than aware that access to a decent meal was going to be hard to come by as students in the Soviet Union. The British Airways flight served steak with peppercorn sauce. Kirby savoured the meal, with every chew storing away the taste for a snowy Russian day. 'I knew it was going to be my last good meal for months.'