Viktoria Mullova

Viktoria Mullova stands out as a violinist whose technical brilliance and broad repertoire have drawn consistent attention, spanning numerous crossover works. Critics have singled out her accounts of J.S. Bach’s solo partitas and sonatas, along with concertos by Brahms, Prokofiev’s Second, Shostakovich’s First, and Sibelius. She has also explored pieces by the Beatles, Miles Davis, and Duke Ellington. Over time she has earned notice for distinctive interpretive choices and a direct rapport with live audiences, while increasingly preferring period instruments and historically informed approaches.

Born on November 27, 1959, in Zhukovskiy within the Moscow Oblast of the then Soviet Republic, Mullova trained at Moscow’s Central Music School under Volodar Bronin before continuing with violin virtuoso Leonid Kogan at the Moscow Conservatory. Her ascent proved rapid after decisive victories at two leading contests: first prize at the 1980 Jean Sibelius International Violin Competition and the gold medal at the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition. The next year she defected to the United States, later making her home in England with cellist Matthew Barley, her husband.

During the 1980s she produced several acclaimed Philips recordings, beginning in 1985 with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a coupling of the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos. In 1988 she released another disc featuring Prokofiev’s Second and Shostakovich’s First, again with André Previn, this time leading the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. By the close of the decade she had performed with many of the leading orchestras and conductors across the United States, Europe, and East Asia.

Mullova established the Mullova Chamber Ensemble in 1994, an ensemble that soon gained worldwide recognition. Following her marriage to Barley, she developed an interest in jazz and other popular idioms. In 2000, drawing on a touring series of popular-music programs, she recorded Through the Looking Glass for Philips, presenting works by Davis, Ellington, George Harrison, and additional non-classical composers. She joined the Onyx label in 2005 and has continued releasing recordings, among them Bach: Sonatas with Ottavio Dantone in 2007, Peasant Girl in 2011, and Music We Love in 2020 alongside her son, bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado. In 2022 she moved to Signum Classics for a period-instrument account of Schubert works with regular collaborator Alasdair Beatson on fortepiano. Mullova performs on the “Jules Falk” Stradivarius of 1723 and a 1750 Guadagnini violin.