A Susanville Stuff Feature
by Melissa Blosser, Assistant Editor
Liudmila Mullin, renowned mezzo-soprano singer and Susanville standout, became a U.S. Citizen Wednesday during a naturalization ceremony held at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Mullin joined 50 new citizens surrounded by the renowned artwork of Sacramento-based Gregory Kondos, a major figure in the art scene, as the Immigration Service’s Sacramento Field Office granted the group citizenship.
“Becoming a U.S. citizen was not something that I had ever planned to do,” said Mullin. “Even when I first moved here and married my husband, Matt, citizenship was not a priority. I must say that it is an odd experience to change your citizenship of birth. It was when I felt confident that the U.S. (California and Susanville) were my new permanent home that citizenship became a priority.”
Mullin, who lives in Janesville, moved to the U.S. in September of 2008, living here now for about four and a half years. During her first visit to Susanville in March of 2006, she performed as part of a traveling acappella singing group called Nevsky (from St Petersburg, Russia) for a concert arranged by the Lassen County Arts Council.
The concert was held at Susanville Methodist Church. She left Susanville two days later for three more weeks of scheduled performances along the eastern seaboard (Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and New York). She then returned to Susanville several more times before moving to California permanently in 2008.
“Matt and I met here in Susanville in a one-and-a-million chance,” said Mullin. “If I would have come to town a few days earlier or later, or if he had traveled to San Francisco that weekend as he had originally planned, we may never have met, but we did, and two years later we were married.”
Mullin, a classically trained mezzo-soprano and frequent Susanville Symphony performer has distinguished herself as a leader in the musical community directing the Susanville Choral Society. Mullin also performed professionally for more than 10 years in theaters and operas in St. Petersburg, Russia as well as internationally in many parts of Europe and in the United States.
She regularly performs with the Lake Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Choir and Bel Canto Opera Company of Reno. In addition to her career experiences she has a master’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in literature and language.
Mullin spent most of her life in St Petersburg, Russia – a city of about 7 million people – and says moving into an area with maybe 20,000 people was in and of itself a “dynamic cultural change.”
Mullin says she quickly learned that, if you’re active in the community here, you get to meet lots of very nice people.
“When I would first go shopping in Safeway for groceries, a ten minute shopping experience would easily take me 45 minutes since I was unfamiliar with many of the products and had to examine labels, today that same ten minute shopping experience still takes me 45 minutes because I am constantly running into friends and neighbors and gabbing about the latest thing to gab about,” said Mullin.
As a new citizen Mullin has many tasks she must complete and she says registering to vote is at the very top of her list.
“U.S. citizenship offers freedoms that I think many American born citizens may not completely realize.” said Mullin. “The freedom of speech and expression, domestic and foreign travel, the rule of law, etc., can be substantially different in other parts of our world. I do not, nor will I ever, take these freedoms for granted.”
