Viktoria Mullova

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Viktoria Mullova is a Russian-born British violinist, born on 27 November 1959 near Moscow. She is famous for her performances of Bach, as well as for adventurous, crossover takes on music by Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, The Beatles and other popular styles.

Early life and training
Mullova grew up in Soviet Russia and studied at the Central Music School of Moscow and the Moscow Conservatory under Leonid Kogan. She won top prizes at two major competitions: the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki (1980) and the International Tchaikovsky Competition (gold, 1982). In 1983, during a tour in Finland, she defected with Vakhtang Jordania, leaving behind the Stradivari violin and eventually moving to Sweden and then the United States.

Life in the West
Mullova established an international career with prestigious orchestras and ensembles. Her debut recording of the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius violin concertos won the Grand Prix du Disc. In the mid-1990s she formed the Mullova Chamber Ensemble, which has toured Europe and recorded Bach violin concertos. She was nominated for a 1995 Grammy for Bach Partitas and won the Echo Klassik prize, a Japanese Record Academy Award, and the Diapason d’Or for her Brahms Violin Concerto recording. She has performed with major groups such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philharmonia, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Montreal and San Francisco Symphonies, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Instruments and bows
Mullova performs on the Jules Falk Stradivarius from 1723 and a 1750 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin. Her bow repertoire includes a Baroque bow by Walter Barbiero among others.

Personal life
She lives in Holland Park, London, with her husband, cellist Matthew Barley, and their three children: Misha Mullov-Abbado (son with conductor and pianist Claudio Abbado), Katia (with violinist Alan Brind), and Nadia (a dancer with the Royal Ballet) from Barley.

Selected discography (highlights)
- Beethoven Violin Sonatas Nos. 3 and 9 (with Kristian Bezuidenhout)
- Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin
- Bach: Violin Sonatas (with Ottavio Dantone)
- Vivaldi: Five Violin Concertos (with Il Giardino Armonico)
- Brahms Violin Concerto (with Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique/John Eliot Gardiner)
- Mozart: Violin Concertos (with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment)
- Through the Looking Glass (with Matthew Barley)
- Bartók and Stravinsky Violin Concertos (with Los Angeles Philharmonic/Esa-Pekka Salonen)
- Tchaikovsky and Sibelius Violin Concertos (with Boston Symphony Orchestra/Seiji Ozawa)

Viktoria Mullova remains a leading figure in classical music, celebrated for her rich Bach interpretations and her fearless crossing into cross-genre repertoire.