Born in the village of Zolotoshino in the Ukraine, Nelli Shkolnikova moved to Moscow at the age of three and began studying with the great pedagogue Yuri Yankelevich while she was still a child.  She became one of the first violinists to complete all her studies under Yankelevich's mentorship and this culminated when she took the first prize at the Jacques Thibaud competition in Paris in 1953.  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.  Seizing on a accidental opportunity to perform in Berlin in 1982, Nelli Shkolnikova defected after the concert with nothing but her violin.  She first settled in Melbourne Australia, where she taught at the Victorian Arts Centre, and at the recommendation of Isaac Stern she was invited to the faculty of Indiana University in Bloomington where she taught from 1987 to 2005.