author
Olga Racster
A Russian-born violinist, music critic, and prolific writer, she moved easily between the worlds of performance, journalism, and popular nonfiction. Her books helped open up music, theatre, and biography for general readers in the early twentieth century.
1 Audiobook
Chats on Violoncellos
by Olga Racster
About the author
Born in Russia, Olga Racster studied the violin in Brussels and Paris and later toured in America and England. She then turned to journalism in London, where she specialized in music criticism before moving to South Africa in 1910 for health reasons.
In Cape Town, she became the dramatic and music critic for The Cape Times, writing under the name "Nina." She also took an active interest in cultural life there, including efforts connected with the preservation of the Koopmans-de Wet House.
Racster wrote widely on music and performance, with books including Chats on Violins, Chats on Violoncellos, and The Master of the Russian Ballet, based on the memoirs of Enrico Cecchetti. She also wrote The Journal of Dr. James Barry, showing the same gift for turning specialist subjects and unusual lives into lively reading for a broad audience.