Book description
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.
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.
