ABSTRACT
Some years ago, I fled all that was familiar, safe, and secure-my family and my native Romania-and started a brand-new life as a free, international artist and the young wife of an American conductor. It was a time of fear, anxiety, and heartbreak as well as tremendous excitement-I was going to America! After many tears, I watched the beautiful landscape of my old country go by. Hours later, I set foot on "free" land for the first time in my life as the train stopped in Vienna. That moment is forever engraved in my memory.
