“The violin is the love of my life”

Baigali Ochkhuu is one of Mongolia’s young and talented violinists. She performed her first solo concert ‘Songodog Egshiglen’ at the Opera and Ballet Theatre last January. O.Baigali has played Bach, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Chopin, Brahms, and many more. Here are some of her thoughts and feelings about music as well as life.

I dreamt about being a figure skater when I was a little girl, but my parents entered me into the Music and Dance College. Now I believe that this was destiny. The Music and Dance College’s building was the biggest building that I had ever seen. I took the exam over a period of three days and gained entrance into the violin class. I will appreciate my parents’ choice for the rest of my life. 

If I hadn’t become a violinist what would I be now? The answer is blowing in the wind. So I am in no doubt that this is my calling in life. When I began to study playing the violin it was truly hard for me. But year after year I started to become attracted to the violin and loved it. The violin is the love of my life. 

Last January, I held my first concert, which was not only the accumulation of my efforts, but also those of my teachers, families, and friends. They are my real supporters and the people who inspire me.

Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso by Camille Saint-Salns for the virtuoso violinist is my favorite composition. When I play this composition, I feel like a different person. For me a musician is a bridge between the audience and the composer. I know I can’t play Mozart very well. Even though I can play his music, I can’t feel it like Mozart did. Maybe Mozart and I are truly different people. I can play Tchaikovsky the best. His works are closer to me. His feelings are able to flow through me and convey his ideas. Every person is unique. All musicians can play Mozart or N.Paganini, but no one will play in a similar way to me. I think it is a display of the one and only character of every musician as well as every person.

I will work on cultural policy in the future. I wrote my Master’s thesis on cultural policy. I work as a head of the Zaluus-Udirdakhuin ukhaan (Youth-Leadership) non-governmental organization. However this work is not about music and art, I work with the ability and confidence that art gave me. 

Books, fine art, and sport are food for my brain. I can’t imagine myself without exercise and sports. Being healthy is very important to me. Also, spiritual health comes from art.

Recently I read Shosha by Isaac Bashevis Singer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978.
It tells a story of the aspiring author Aaron Greidinger who lives in the Hasidic quarter of the Jewish neighborhood in Warsaw during the 1930s. Aaron had many love affairs with women, but the only woman he truly loved was Shosha, his childhood friend. 

Shosha was struck by a sleeping disease and since then had barely grown physically and was mentally disabled. 

"I was an anachronism in every way, but I didn't know it, just as I didn't know that my friendship with Shosha had anything to do with love.

" When I read books, some quotes are imprinted on my mind. After I read that, I also read “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” by Barbara Demick. Then I realized how lucky I was to be born and to live in Mongolia. And I hope more people read this book and understand that we are very lucky people.