photo Sasha Gusov
Viktoria Mullova is an internationally acclaimed artist who studied at the Central Music School of Moscow and at the Moscow Conservatoire. Her extraordinary talent captured international attention when she won first prize at the 1980 Sibelius Competition in Helsinki and the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982. Since then, she has appeared with most of the world's greatest orchestras and conductors and at the major international festivals.
A passion for the Baroque repertoire and a period approach to playing, which she has nurtured since 2000 (performing and touring throughout the world with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Il Giardino Armonico), sees Mullova playing a new instrument at many of her concerts – her cherished ‘Jules Falk’ 1723 Stradivarius with gut strings and classical and Baroque bows.
Mullova’s ventures into creative contemporary music, which started in 2000 with her album “Through the Looking Glass” (with the renowned British jazz pianist Julian Joseph - “…Mullova and friends transcended their contrasting musical origins and fused into something genuinely new and beguiling.” - Richard Morrison, The Times), continues with specially commissioned works from young composers such as Dave Maric (premiered with Katia Labèque at the 2002 City of London Festival and on tour throughout Europe) and Fraser Trainer (premiered with the experimental ensemble Between the Notes at the 2003 City of London Festival). She continues to develop these relationships and will premiere a new work for the BBC Proms in 2005.
 With a group of like-minded musicians she formed the Mullova Ensemble, which first toured in July 1994. The Ensemble have since recorded two discs (Bach Concertos and Schubert Octet) and continue to tour throughout Europe, their unique blend of scholarship and musicianship and their ability to breathe life into music new and old appreciated by audience and critics alike.
As a recitalist, Mullova performs regularly with Katia Labèque and Piotr Anderszewski. She also plays solo Bach programmes on gut strings, either with the harpsichordist Ottavio Dantone or purely solo; “To hear Mullova play Bach is, simply, one of the greatest things you can experience…” Tim Ashley, The Guardian.
Her discography for Philips Classics, numbering over eighteen recordings, has attracted many prestigious awards, but in 2005 Mullova once again explores new territories and has teamed up with the newly formed Onyx Classics label to present a series of new recordings including a Vivaldi Concertos programme with Il Giardino Armonico directed by Giovanni Antonini. Onyx is a new label with a new ethos – adopting all the normal traditional sales and marketing practises across retail chains throughout all major markets, but also the very latest new media technologies for marketing and distribution via the internet: audiences can now listen to excerpts of the artist’s CDs on line and either purchase the album direct or download directly from the website, from where extensive information will feature Miss Mullova’s entire touring schedule, world-wide. Source: Mullova
She plays
1723 "Julius Falk" Stradivari
a baroque bow by a modern maker, a Dodd for Classical repertoire,
a Voirin for other repertoire
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Mullova Ensemble - Schubert octet
Viktoria Mullova - Vivaldi , Violin Concertos
Viktoria Mullova - Beethoven , Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Viktoria Mullova - Mozart Violin Concertos 1, 3 & 4
Viktoria Mullova - Through the Looking Glass
Viktoria Mullova - Bartók , Stravinsky Violin Concerto
Viktoria Mullova - Brahms Violin Sonatas
Viktoria Mullova , Piotr Anderszewski - Brahms Violin Sonatas
Viktoria Mullova - Bach Violin Concerti
Viktoria Mullova - JS Bach Three Partitas for solo violin
Viktoria Mullova , Piotr Anderszewski - Prokofiev Sonatas for violin and piano
Viktoria Mullova , André Previn, piano , Heinrich Schiff, cello - Brahms, Beethoven
Viktoria Mullova - Brahms Violin Concerto
Viktoria Mullova , Bruno Canino - JS Bach Sonatas for violin and piano
Viktoria Mullova - Mendelssohn Violin Concerti
Viktoria Mullova , Bruno Canino - Stravinsky , Ravel , Prokofiev
Viktoria Mullova - Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No.5 Paganini Concerto No.1
Viktoria Mullova - hostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 Prokofiev Violin Concerto No.2
Viktoria Mullova - JS Bach Partita BWV 1002 , Bartok Sonata for Solo Violin , Paganini Nel Cor Più Non Mi Sento
Viktoria Mullova - Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto , Sibelius Violin Concerto
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Listen to Viktoria Mullova
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“What I haven’t played I don’t want to play. I would prefer to re-think and play music differently over the years. When I defected I became more open-minded and I have learnt from other musicians. My playing has changed a lot.”
“I am trying to be authentic, yes, and I couldn’t play with a piano because I’m using gut strings and a baroque bow, which makes clear what baroque style is. I play with the music too; having it in front gives me a sense of calm, then I’m not nervous about forgetting the notes. That’s the main thing I’m nervous about, even the pieces I have played for so long. With Bach it helps to have the music. As I’m playing I’m creating new things. It’s great fun to be free like that.” - source : interview by Colin Anderson
"My mother wanted me to learn a musical instrument, but there were five of us, my parents, myself and two sisters living in a tiny room and, since there was not space for a piano, I was given the cheapest and smallest option, a violin"
"When they practise, it is really important for children of that age to have a parent present all the time, especially with such a difficult a instrument as the violin. I was very lucky in this respect, my parents were ambitious and encouraged me all the time" - source : interview by John Woodford
" .......I'm a great fan of pop music, particularly Sting and Earth, Wind and Fire. The best concert that I have been to was John McLaughlin with Shakti at the Barbican last year. The combination of him playing guitar against the background of these Indian tabla players was mesmerising. ..." source : Times of London
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Press about Viktoria Mullova
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Recital, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, January 2003
Peter Dobrin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2003 : " So clear in vision, so brimming with technical surety, so musically inevitable was Viktoria Mullova's Thursday night recital that she almost lulled me into thinking that there was nothing arduous or rare about ascending to a state of artistic near-perfection. But violinists as good as Mullova don't come along every day."
Wigmore Hall Recital
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 2000: "This was one of those rare, fantastic evenings that almost beggar description… In Viktoria Mullova – whose technical perfection combines with matchless, uncompromising interpretative subtlety – [Bach's works for solo violins] find perhaps their ideal interpreter. I doubt anyone has tackled the mythically unperformable with such power, conviction or supreme success. To hear Mullova play Bach is, simply, one of the greatest things you can experience… technically Mullova was simply staggering… The lines interwove and overlapped with phenomenal clarity… The audience went beserk. No ovation was ever quite so richly deserved."
Bach recital with Ottavio Dantone/Wigmore Hall
Douglas Cooksey, Classicalsource.com, 2004 : "The prospect of an evening of Bach's violin music might be thought either intimidating or heavenly, but the angels were in attendance and the result was indeed very close to heaven. Mullova produced an incredible beauty of sound from the gut strings. [Her] double-stopping is special; the Andante of the A minor sonata, basically a song with accompaniment which most players labour over, had the vocal line floating free and the accompaniment sounding as if by another player."
“What I haven’t played I don’t want to play. I would prefer to re-think and play music differently over the years. When I defected I became more open-minded and I have learnt from other musicians. My playing has changed a lot.”
“I am trying to be authentic, yes, and I couldn’t play with a piano because I’m using gut strings and a baroque bow, which makes clear what baroque style is. I play with the music too; having it in front gives me a sense of calm, then I’m not nervous about forgetting the notes. That’s the main thing I’m nervous about, even the pieces I have played for so long. With Bach it helps to have the music. As I’m playing I’m creating new things. It’s great fun to be free like that.” source : interview by Colin Anderson
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Management: World (excl. Germany, Italy, Spain)
Jilly Clarke , Catherine Staples
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