From Russia to Love

The great violinist Viktoria Mullova's story is one of striking contrasts and huge challenges. As a young musician she was a bright star in the Soviet musical firmament, but she stunned the world when she escaped the KGB and fled to the West, leaving behind her family, friends and all she knew. And in her flight from Finland, Viktoria also abandoned on her hotel bed the priceless Stradivarius she'd played during her triumph at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. From Russia to Love recounts the journey of a remarkable woman. Armed only with her violin bow and her exceptional talent, Viktoria went on to conquer the West. As her new life unfolded, first in America and then in Europe, Viktoria met fellow exiles Nureyev and Rostropovich, fell in love with conductor Claudio Abbado and learned to throw off the shackles of her Russian training. Granted unparalleled access to her subject, Eva Maria Chapman paints an intimate, truthful and sensitive portrait of a unique artist.

Autorentext

Viktoria Mullova is one of the world's finest virtuoso violinists. Born in Prague, Eva Maria Chapman escaped Czechoslovakia with Olga Nesterenko, her Ukrainian mother, in 1949, and after wandering through refugee camps, sailed to Australia. Eva graduated from Adelaide University in History and English and was a secondary school teacher for several years. She has lived in the UK for over 35 years, pursuing a variety of careers, including psychotherapy, academic research (culminating in a PhD), and energy efficiency. She published her memoir, Sasha & Olga, in 2006. It describes Olga's descent into madness, finding long-lost relatives in Ukraine and healing a 33-year rift with her stepfather, Sasha. This has sparked off her next career as an author of inspiring books. Her book Butterflies & Demons tells the story of the Adelaide Aborigines, a gentle and wise race who were virtually snuffed out by British Imperialism. She wrote Russian Roulette 2020 in 2010, a futuristic love story. Eva is particularly drawn to all things Russian and this led her to write the gripping story of the Russian violinist Viktoria Mullova From Russia to Love', published by The Robson Press in May 2012. Mullova caused a sensation in 1983 as one of the last musical defectors from the Soviet Union and since then has soared to the top and stayed there as one of the best and most versatile of violinists. What interested Chapman most was how Mullova adapted from living in a society that was totalitarian to one that was, in contrast, libertarian.