Viola virtuoso tantalizes with tour

Mei began to play the violin when he was 5, because his grandfather, a history teacher at Hunan Normal University, loved classical music. In 2005, when a team from the Middle School Affiliated to the Central Conservatory of Music visited Changsha to recruit new students, the then 11-year-old Mei auditioned as a violinist. One of the school's teachers, Wang Shaowu, was impressed by his performance and suggested that he switch to the viola. That was Mei's introduction to the instrument.

The mellow, deep tone of the viola, so unlike the higher-pitched violin, instantly attracted him and so between 2005 and 2014, he studied the instrument under Wang in Beijing.

In 2014, Mei continued his studies at the Central Conservatory of Music, and also enrolled to study at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich under violist Hariolf Schlichtig. In 2018, he won first prize in the viola category, as well as the Audience Prize at the 2018 ARD International Music Competition in Munich. In 2019, he became principal viola at the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra while continuing to study with Japanese violist Nobuko Imai at the Kronberg Academy.

When he became the first Chinese musician to join the Berliner Philharmoniker last year, Mei made headlines, but what matters to him is that people notice the viola and enjoy its sound.

"He became a part of the Berliner Philharmoniker from the day we rehearsed together. The young man knows us very well and did a lot of homework before his audition. We are happy to have him," says double bass player, Ulrich Wolff, who performed in China for the first time in 1979, the year after he joined the Berliner Philharmoniker, which was conducted by Herbert von Karajan at the time.