Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who appeared frail at his 80th birthday party last month at the Kremlin, has been hospitalized again, a Russian daily Tvoi Den reported Wednesday.

Rostropovich, who had been hospitalized in February for an undisclosed illness, was taken to an unidentified hospital by emergency services personnel after becoming ill at his home outside Moscow, The Associated Press reports quoting an article in the Tvoi Dyen daily.

Rostropovich’s representatives reached by The Associated Press said they had no information.

“I saw him three days ago. He was in a santorium near Moscow,” said Natalia Dollezhal, his spokeswoman in Moscow. “It’s not a hospital. It’s for rehabilitation.”

She described his condition as “not bad” but added she hadn’t been in touch with him since the visit.

“I have the grippe and I can’t see him because it’s not good for him to (be in contact with) an infection,” she said.

Rostropovich went into exile from the Soviet Union with his family in 1974 after housing dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn for four years. He and his wife eventually lost their Soviet citizenship. After the fall of the Soviet Union, they were allowed back.

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