Violinist Nelli Shkolnikova Was Born in 1928

Shkolnikova was a former first prize winner at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Violin Competition in 1953

Soviet-Jewish violinist Nelli Shkolnikova was born on this day in 1928.

A student of Lillia Kossodo and Yuri Yankelevich, she served on faculty at the Gnessin State Musical College.

Although she was one of the most highly esteemed soloists in the Soviet Union she was forbidden from leaving the country for many years, thus denying her wider international recognition.

Between 1970 and 1982, she was barred from leaving the Soviet Union. When she was finally allowed to leave, she defected to the West in Berlin on 26 November 1982. She settled in Melbourne, Australia, where she taught at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), an offer made to her after meeting the conductor John Hopkins in Germany.

She became the Victorian Arts Centre’s first Artist-in-Residence. In 1987, on the recommendation of Isaac Stern, she was invited to join the faculty of Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music as professor of violin. She later returned to her post at the VCA in Melbourne.

NELLI SHKOLNIKOVA | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 4 IN D MAJOR | KIRILL KONDRASHIN & THE MOSCOW PHILHARMONIC | 1968