A formative influence

By Chen Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-02 11:24

The young students coached by Isaac Stern during his visit to China in 1979 have all developed successful careers in performing or teaching. Four of them, now in their 40s, recall their unforgettable moments with the late maestro.

Vera Tsu Weiling, 48

One year after Stern's visit, Tsu Weiling studied at Julliard and the Manhattan School of Music in the United States.

Tsu was the first violinist from the mainland, in her generation, to perform as a soloist at both Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall.

Now she is a professor of violin at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

"It was like yesterday. I can still smell the air, remember the blue sky and hear the violin tunes flying from the rehearsal room. Life is magic. Thank God, 30 years have passed and we can still perform on stage and reunite in the name of the maestro Stern. It's hard to say he changed our lives, but his visit did initiate many of us into a career of performing and teaching."

Hongying Ho, 42

In the movie From Mao to Mozart, Hongying Ho is the girl with baby-fat cheeks who sang Tartini's Sonata in G Minor to Stern. In 1984, Ho went to Julliard School of Music to study with Dorothy Delay and M. Kawasaki.

Now she teaches and has been at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts since 2002.

"I was so nervous that day. Some 3,000 people were in the hall. My teacher told me Stern was a world famous violinist. I was too young to understand the meaning.

"Stern told us he had a secret, which helped him play the violin," Ho said. Then he took out a small piece of sponge that he placed between his violin and shoulder and made playing comfortable.

"The next day, he went to Wangfujing to buy some sponge, cut it into small pieces and distributed them to us."

Pan Chun, 41

When Stern visited Beijing, the 11-year-old Pan Chun was the first-year piano student at the secondary school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music. In 1987, he was awarded a government scholarship to study at the Moscow State Conservatory.

He is now a professor with the Central Conservatory of Music.

"Actually I did not pay much attention to Stern. Because I learned piano, I thought I was playing for David Golub, the pianist who accompanied Stern. After I realized a few years later, I regretted that I did not play the violin."

Wang Jian, 41

A formative influence

People who have watched From Mao to Mozart cannot forget the end of the movie, when a short 10-year-old boy with small innocent eyes played a cello that was almost his size. This was Wang Jian. Stern knew the boy would be something one day.

David Stern who later became his schoolmate at the Yale School of Music said: "We were deeply impressed by his playing. It is not because he played perfectly, but because his playing was simple and true."

His first professional engagement was in 1986, at New York's Carnegie Hall. Since then he has embarked on an international career and has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras.

"I did not realize how important the experience was until many years later after I went to the US. Many people would come to me and say, 'Hey, you are the boy in From Mao to Mozart'.

"And today when I see the movie again, it reminds me of many old friends and treasured memories."