Now everything will be just like in a fairytale…
Michaela Fukačová spent an even longer time working as a “clerk” in Denmark, where she immigrated as a young graduate. As she admits herself, even though she sometimes didn’t know whether she could buy a loaf of bread, she single-mindedly held on to her goal of establishing herself as a soloist and refused to participate in competitions for some of the Danish orchestras. The doors to concert halls finally opened for her after she won the Moscow Tchaikovsky award, which led to her quick ascent up the ranks.
Fukačová had problems studying at home because of her politically unacceptable parents, who, like Tučapský, had lost their livelihoods. Although she chose to immigrate to Denmark legally, she recalls her departure in 1985 as a journey to a world of much sought-after freedom. Despite the fact that this journey was made significantly easier by her young age and the support of her husband’s family, her first experiences in Denmark took her by surprise.
“I had a romantic fantasy that everything would be just like in a fairytale. Instead, I quickly fell into a deep crisis; I profoundly missed everything I knew so well – family, friends, a common culture. It took a long time before I stopped comparing my new surroundings with the customs of my old homeland. And now I think to myself of my audacity in wanting the country that took me in as a new citizen to reflect my own imagination… Up until that time I was like a child in the safety of the communist prison. It was necessary to grow up and take root in a land of freedom and my own responsibility.”
In hindsight, it is clear that the young artist was rewarded for tenacity many times over. As a soloist she has performed with world-class conductors and studied privately under Mstislav Rostropovich. Fukačová has also had a successful recording career and has won numerous prizes, including a “Grammy Classic” award.
She also gained a deeper insight into herself and her place in the world, despite the painful feelings of being uprooted. “When we feel that in the depths of ourselves, then it is only a mere thought that inflicts a feeling of detachment and inadequacy. I don’t feel my identity nationally, even though I was born a Czech and will stay a Czech. I have been lucky to know and understand my being and identity as something that is common to all of us and will stay unchanged regardless of where in the world we live.”
Michaela Fukačová
Fukačová’s story has much in common with that of another world-class musician - Dagmar Pecková, who now lives in Freiburg. Both women left Czechoslovakia in the mid-1980s. Even today, Pecková doesn’t try to hide the problems she had at the beginning. It is said that she found herself sitting many times in a Dresden hotel room on top of her packed suitcases carrying on a dialogue with herself about whether to return to her homeland. However, she would always resist the temptation and today reaps the rewards of her persistence, which include, among others, cooperation with conductors such as C. Davis, S. Bychkov, S. Cambreling and W. Sawallisch.
Michaela Fukačová spent an even longer time working as a “clerk” in Denmark, where she immigrated as a young graduate. As she admits herself, even though she sometimes didn’t know whether she could buy a loaf of bread, she single-mindedly held on to her goal of establishing herself as a soloist and refused to participate in competitions for some of the Danish orchestras. The doors to concert halls finally opened for her after she won the Moscow Tchaikovsky award, which led to her quick ascent up the ranks.
Fukačová had problems studying at home because of her politically unacceptable parents, who, like Tučapský, had lost their livelihoods. Although she chose to immigrate to Denmark legally, she recalls her departure in 1985 as a journey to a world of much sought-after freedom. Despite the fact that this journey was made significantly easier by her young age and the support of her husband’s family, her first experiences in Denmark took her by surprise.
“I had a romantic fantasy that everything would be just like in a fairytale. Instead, I quickly fell into a deep crisis; I profoundly missed everything I knew so well – family, friends, a common culture. It took a long time before I stopped comparing my new surroundings with the customs of my old homeland. And now I think to myself of my audacity in wanting the country that took me in as a new citizen to reflect my own imagination… Up until that time I was like a child in the safety of the communist prison. It was necessary to grow up and take root in a land of freedom and my own responsibility.”
In hindsight, it is clear that the young artist was rewarded for tenacity many times over. As a soloist she has performed with world-class conductors and studied privately under Mstislav Rostropovich. Fukačová has also had a successful recording career and has won numerous prizes, including a “Grammy Classic” award.
She also gained a deeper insight into herself and her place in the world, despite the painful feelings of being uprooted. “When we feel that in the depths of ourselves, then it is only a mere thought that inflicts a feeling of detachment and inadequacy. I don’t feel my identity nationally, even though I was born a Czech and will stay a Czech. I have been lucky to know and understand my being and identity as something that is common to all of us and will stay unchanged regardless of where in the world we live.”
Michaela Fukačová
Fukačová’s story has much in common with that of another world-class musician - Dagmar Pecková, who now lives in Freiburg. Both women left Czechoslovakia in the mid-1980s. Even today, Pecková doesn’t try to hide the problems she had at the beginning. It is said that she found herself sitting many times in a Dresden hotel room on top of her packed suitcases carrying on a dialogue with herself about whether to return to her homeland. However, she would always resist the temptation and today reaps the rewards of her persistence, which include, among others, cooperation with conductors such as C. Davis, S. Bychkov, S. Cambreling and W. Sawallisch.