Fusion of US-Chinese culture makes a violin virtuoso

Regarded as one of today's most talented and creative young violinists, Angelo Xiang Yu has recently received 2019 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a prestigious award presented to up to five outstanding instrumentalists each year in New York City.

The 30-year-old artist is also one of 10 recipients of the 2019 Lincoln Center Awards for Emerging Artists -- the annual prizes that honor outstanding artistry and serve to acknowledge the promising future of selected performers within the 11 resident organizations of the Lincoln Center.

What is interesting is that Yu would not have been a violin virtuoso had his parents been generous enough to allow him to study the "expensive" piano when he showed signs of musical precocity as a child.

CHOOSING VIOLIN BY COINCIDENCE

Yu started to learn the violin at the age of four and a half. Yet it was a choice by coincidence. His teacher had suggested that Yu study the piano since he's got extremely sharp ears and big hands.

"My parents looked at the piano and said 'Wow, that's a huge box. It must be very expensive!' Then they saw a little box that happens to be a violin case. And they said, 'Okay, maybe we should learn that. That's probably a little cheaper,'" recalled Yu in a recent interview with Xinhua in New York City.

"It turned out to be the biggest 'mistake' in their life because violin can be the most expensive instruments in the world. For example, a Stradivarius or del Gesu violin can worth millions of dollars." said Yu, who performs on a 1729 Stradivarius violin on loan from an anonymous donor.

"So it's really, really a coincidence. But I am happy about it because later on I figured out that violin is the closest instrument to human voice, and I can express all my feelings with it. It's almost like an extension of my body whenever I play the violin. So I'm glad I made that decision," said Yu, also First Prize winner of the prestigious 2010 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists.

PAINS OF STARDOM

Born in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Yu moved to Shanghai at the age of 11 and received early training from a renowned violinist at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree, as well as a prestigious artist diploma at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he was a student of Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, and Kim Kashkashian.

"Now I'm (almost) thirty years old. I spent my first decade in Inner Mongolia, second decade in Shanghai, and third decade in Boston. So it's been quite an interesting journey for me," said Yu, who now resides in Boston, Massachusetts.

An active recitalist and chamber musician, Yu has performed at many world-renowned concert venues and received consistent critical acclaim and enthusiastic audience response for his performances.

The young musician was candid about his everyday life which he said was not as glamorous as in the spotlight on stage.

"To be honest, it's very, very difficult to be a 'star'. We have to deal with a lot of pressure. No matter how you feel today, you have to give the audience your best," said Yu, who spends about half of each year traveling around the world.

"Sometimes I had very bad stomachache. Sometimes I didn't sleep for like forty, fifty or sixty hours, and I still have to play a full concert by memory. If I miss one note, the whole world knows in the next day's newspaper," he said. "But we have to smile and act as if we're totally in control and confident. And please just imagine not doing that for only once, but doing that a hundred times a year. That's a lot to take in."