Five Questions with ... Chloe Chua
IDAGIO Rising star violinist Chloe Chua, winner of the 2018 Junior Yehudi Menuhin Competition and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra's youngest ever Artist-in-Residence, shares her top musical inspirations.
What are five of your favourite recordings of all time?
Rachmaninoff • Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C minor op. 18 • Krystian Zimerman, Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon)
Mozart • Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 17 in G major KV 453 • Mitsuko Uchida, Jeffrey Tate, English Chamber Orchestra (Decca)
Franck • Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major FWV 8 • Kaja Danczowska, Krystian Zimerman (Deutsche Grammophon)
Fauré • Papillon op. 77 • Yo-Yo Ma, Kathryn Stott (Sound Postings, Sony)
Brahms • Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major op. 77 • Maxim Vengerov, Daniel Barenboim, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Teldec)
Which artist - dead or alive - would you most like to work with and why?
David Oistrakh. I admire the delicate yet dense sound he drew from the violin, his flawless bow technique, and his profound musical insight. If I had ever had the opportunity to work with him, I’m certain I would have learned an incredible amount.
Is there anything outside of classical music that helps you become a better musician?
I believe that 'good music’ has a healing power. It shows compassion and gives comfort to one’s soul. That’s why, outside of classical music, I try to understand more of humanity, the lives of composers, and the worlds they lived in. This helps me connect with the relevant emotional context to make meaningful musical interpretations.
How do you mentally prepare before going on stage? Do you have any routines, visualisations, or practices that help you focus?
At least an hour before a concert, I will do some finger warm-up exercises and go through some passages of the music that I am about to perform. After that, I take some time to rest. Before I go onstage, I will also take some deep breaths, read some Bible verses and pray, to calm myself and focus.
What piece of music do you return to when you need to reconnect with why you started playing the violin in the first place?
My mother has a box of five CDs containing 100 famous classical music pieces which she played to me daily when I was a baby, and Spring from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons was the one that especially caught my attention. It was not only an important part of my childhood memory, but also my first impression of the violin’s sound. Its simple yet beautiful melody was one of my motivations to practise when I first started learning the violin at four. I am truly blessed to have the opportunity to learn the violin, connect with so many wonderful musicians, and have access to great recordings and music scores.
Mozart: Violin Concertos is out now on IDAGIO.