Oberlin Portrait: Julia Sakharova

“When I first came to Oberlin, I was smiling all the time,” says Russian-born violinist Julia Sakharova ’03. “Because of this, people thought that I did not understand much!”

That assumption could not be further from the truth.

Julia’s level temperament, sweet face, and genuinely musical soul belie a keen knowledge of musical politics. She is, after all, a veteran and victor of numerous performance competitions, most recently in June 2003, when she was one of the top prizewinners at the Jeunesses Musicales Montreal International Competition, an honor that included release of a CD recording featuring Julia and the other winners, and coverage in the October issue of the Strad, which praised the “conviction and intensity” of her Mendelssohn: “She brought the first movement to a rousing conclusion and then displayed a pleasing delicacy of phrasing in the Andante.”

Julia, who also won Oberlin’s Concerto Competition in 2002, began performing publicly at the age of 8. But the politics of the business have not tainted this musician; her disposition is genuine.

She was born in 1979 in Zheleznovodsk, Russia, and picked up the violin at the age of 6. “My mother is a pianist,” says Julia, “One day she decided to see if I had any music abilities.”

She made her professional debut with the Moldova Symphony Orchestra a mere two years after beginning her violin studies. “I was 7 or 8,” Julia recalls, “I wore a Moldavian folk dress. My mom was nervous because it was the first time on stage for me, but I told her ‘Oh, don’t worry! I’m going to be fine!’”

Julia’s mother has been a continuous presence in the violinist’s life. She accompanied Julia to Moscow when the budding virtuoso began studies at the Central Special Music School (part of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory) and subsequently moved with her to Oberlin.

“I am so blessed,” says Julia. “I think about the problems I sometimes have, and then I realize how much worse everything would be if my mother were not here.”

In 1997 Julia attended the International Sarasate Competition in Pamplona, Spain. While there, besides receiving a special prize from the jurors, she met Emeritus Professor of Violin Taras Gabora. He heard her playing, and suggested she audition for Oberlin.

During the Oberlin phase of her career (she is now concluding her studies with Professor of Violin Milan Vitek and will graduate in December) she received the Ernest Hatch Wilkins Memorial Prize in May 2002, served as concertmaster of the Oberlin Orchestra during the 2001-02 season, and was a featured soloist with the Oberlin Orchestra under the direction of composer and conductor John Williams at the Getty Center in Los Angeles in the fall of 2000.

For all of her prowess as a soloist, Julia has a special place in her heart for chamber music. “I have both a love and a gift for it. I just breathe into it,” Julia says. At Oberlin she formed the Erato Quartet, named for the muse of love poetry and mimicry. The ensemble won the 2001 Coleman-Barstow Award for Strings.

“I think that chamber music is the purest of all forms of music,” she says. “Everything is there in chamber music -- the giving, the collaboration. You make music together, and you give to other people with other people. It’s not only you.”

Julia has also been featured with pianist Yung Wook Yoo and cellist Margret Arnadottir on a recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Elegiaque Piano Trios, released by Tavros Records in 2001. In 2002 she won first prize in the Musicians Club of New York’s 47th Olga Koussevitzky Competition for Strings. The competition has tentative plans to present Julia in a New York City recital in the spring of 2004.

A Conversation with Julia Sakharova

What inspired you to become a musician? What keeps you inspired on discouraging days?

To be honest, I can’t say, “Oh I just wanted to be a musician,” because I didn’t really care when I was small. What happened is that we -– my mom and grandmother and I -- were walking on the street and there was a music school, and my mom, being a pianist, said, “Why don’t we audition her and see if she has pitch and rhythm.” As it turned out, I had some abilities for music.

As far as continuing to be inspired goes -- part of this life is its ups and downs. If you get married, why stay married if you have a fight? Because something keeps you going, because there is something that is stronger than just this one day.

What is the most memorable performance you have ever seen and why?

One summer I was at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and some of the performances were just so incredible that I cried. My mouth was literally open for five minutes afterward. One of them was by Evgeny Kissin. I think he has something that just transfixes you -- he and Bobby McFerrin!

If you could perform with any musician, living or dead, who would it be? What would you perform?

If I had a choice, I would put together a small orchestra with all the musicians I love, and play chamber music. If I could play any music, I would play the Schubert String Quartet in C Major for two cellos, Tchaikovsky’s String Sextet, and the Brahms Double Concerto.

If you could master another instrument, what would it be?

Well, to be realistic, the instrument probably wouldn’t fit me -- but just to dream, it would be a cello. I love cello. But realistically, I mean, my hands are so short!

If you could not be a musician, what other profession would you choose? What profession would you definitely not choose?

I would be a ballroom dancer or a writer.

I would not want to be a doctor. I don’t want to offend anyone, but it is such a hard profession -– especially if you are a surgeon! You have to have such courage and be able to see so much! As much as I have respect for this profession, it has too much responsibility for me.

What do you listen to for inspiration? In your free time?

You know, I love jazz. I just enjoy listening to it -– although I would love to study it, and to play it too. I like Ella Fitzgerald, I would put her on anytime. Besides loving jazz, I'm also a big fan of the Latin/Spanish music, dances, and rhythms.

What do you like to read?

I love reading anything – historical literature, books or magazines about music, other countries, other traditions -- in English or in Russian. I can check out any book in Mudd and read it -– but I love Russian fiction a lot. I like Dostoevsky and Pushkin, because Russian books are related to real life so well.

What are three words that describe you?

Inquisitive, spontaneous, and giving.