Vanessa-Mae (1978- ) was born in Singapore of a Chinese mother and Thai father. At the age of four she moved with her mother to London.
The violin is a very versatile instrument. It can play jazz, classical, pop, country and western. You name it and it can certainly play it. -- Vanessa-Mae
Definitely the most important thing about playing the violin is that it should be enormous fun. -- Vanessa-Mae
I plan to play to you one more Paganini but this time on on my electric violin just to show you that Paganini works just as well on a modern instrument. That's a fantastic thing about good music, good music is is timeless. It will never ever age. -- Vanessa-Mae
Recently people ask me, Vanessa, why do you want to play pop music, when you can have a much easier, cosier life-style just playing classical music, doing what you started doing. And I have always felt that there is just really too much good music in the pop world that I wouldn't want to miss it for anything. -- Vanessa-Mae
Vanessa-Mae (1978- ) was born in Singapore of a Chinese mother and Thai father. At the age of four she moved with her mother to London.
At the age of three Vanessa-Mae was playing the piano, at five the violin. Her first public performance was at the age of nine, by the age of thirteen, Vanessa-Mae had three classical recordings to her name.
Vanessa-Mae exploded onto the music scene to critical aclaim in early 1995 with the album The Violin Player. She was still only sixteen, and had been working on The Violin Player since she was fourteen.
Following the success of The Violin Player, Vanessa-Mae embarked on the Red Hot Tour, an exhausting 34-date tour of the UK. The performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London (30 June 1995) is available on DVD – Vanessa-Mae The Red Hot Tour – Live at the Royal Albert Hall.
Vanessa-Mae has been described as a pop-classical fusion, it is not, it is a rock-classical fusion. Vanessa-Mae describes herself as 'Violin Techno-acoustic Fusion'.
Many purists would no doubt sniff and look down their noses.
Music is not about stiff-necked snobbishness.
Look at the state of the classical music scene. It is in free fall. Partly this is due to greed. Why pay full price for a CD, when often superior performances can be had on the Naxos label at less than a third of the price?
The classical music biz has resorted to gimmicks. A few mediocrities, 'celebrities', churning out the same old repertoire.
Vanessa-Mae is what music has always been about, enjoyment. She puts her heart and soul into a performance, her live performances are electrifying.
As with any good musician, any true artist, she improvises, for example Bob Dylan, like any good music, again Bob Dylan, it is capable of improvisation.
Zum, Bach, Gotan Project, Kronos Quartet, Astor Piazzolla, Bob Dylan, Vanessa-Mae. Music and musicians, all capable of improvisation and being improvised.
Synchronicity: Vanessa-Mae has the same birth date as violin virtuoso Paganini, 196 years later!
Vanessa-Mae, a Chinese Kylie on violin!
Vanessa-Mae does for the violin what Jimi Hendrix did for the guitar!