Viktoria Mullova

Viktoria Mullova (???????? ???????) (born Zhukovsky, Russia, November 27, 1959) is a highly regarded violinist, living in U.K. since leaving the Soviet Union in 1983. After studying at the Central Music School of Moscow and at the Moscow Conservatoire under Leonid Kogan, she won first prize at the 1980 International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki and the Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982.

After studying at the Central Music School of Moscow and at the Moscow Conservatoire under Leonid Kogan, she won first prize at the 1980 International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki and the Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982. Whilst on tour in Finland in 1983, Mullova fled to Haaparanta, Sweden, and then to the United States, after she applied for political asylum and obtained an American visa.

Mullova has made many recordings, including composition by: Brahms, Bart?k, Jan?cek, Debussy, Vivaldi, Bach, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius (her debut recording, a performance of violin concertos by both Tchaikovsky and Sibelius was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque).

She formed the Mullova Chamber Ensemble in the mid-1990s. The ensemble has toured Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands and has recorded the Bach violin concertos on Philips Classics. She was nominated for a 1995 Grammy Award for her recording of the Bach Partitas, and she won a 1995 Echo Klassik award, a Japanese Record Academy Award and a Deutsche Schallplattenkritik prize for her recording of the Brahms concerto. Her recording of the Brahms B major Trio (No 1) and Beethoven's Archduke Trio with Andre Previn and Heinrich Schiff was released in 1995, receiving a further Diapason d'Or.

Mullova's international career as a soloist has included performances with The Philharmonia Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed as soloist and director with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Mullova plays a "Jules Falk" Stradivarius (1723) and a 1750 Guadagnini. Her bows include a Baroque style bow by a modern maker, a Dodd and a Voirin.