Vera Tsu Weiling

Vera Tsu Weiling (born 1960) is a professional violinist and Professor and Master tutor of the Central Conservatory in Beijing and Shanghai Conservatory. She is featured in the Academy Award winning documentary From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China, directed by Murray Lerner. Tsu Weiling serves as co-chairman of the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition and vice-president of the China Violin Society.

Early life Tsu Weiling was born in the city of Shanghai, China, and began playing the violin at the age of 3 under the guidance of her father. Both her parents were amateur musicians; her father played the violin whilst working as an electrical engineer, and her mother played the piano whilst working as a nurse. Tsu Weiling was first denied violin lessons by her father due to her young age of 3. Upon protest from Tsu Weiling, her father made a deal that if she could hold her body and arms in the correct violin playing position during the time it took for him to run errands, he would teach her to play. Unfortunately, he forgot the deal, and she was left standing for hours such that upon his return, Tsu Weiling's face had "turned green" resorting to her being given a small one-eighth violin. She would continue to learn from her father for another 13 years.

Chinese Cultural Revolution The Chinese Cultural Revolution, which began during Tsu Weiling's childhood, restricted all permitted music to eight Peking operas approved by Jiang Qing, the wife of Mao Zedong. Since the classical music that Tsu Weiling was taught was banned, she was forced to hide her violin practices, often in basements. She describes this period of her life and the fear of prosecution:"We had a basement, actually, a very small room, and I practiced very secretively. You had to draw the curtain and play in a dark room, using a mute. You could not let people see you practice, because they called it 'unhealthy music.' We had seven or eight 'red songs' from Peking Opera, and they were all that was played. That was the only kind of music that people were allowed to hear." Tsu Weiling describes meeting Stern as "revolutionary. Like a tornado", and upon hearing him play, she comments, "it was like being in the desert for so long, and then all of a sudden – water! A fountain!".

In 1984 Tsu Weiling had her debut recital at Carnegie Hall, and in 1988 she performed at Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Symphony Orchestra, becoming the first violinist from the Chinese mainland to perform as a soloist at both venues. Tsu Weiling holds two professorships; one from the Central Conservatory in Beijing in November 2000, and the other awarded by The Shanghai Conservatory in September 2014.

In 2009 Tsu Weiling created the China Trio with pianist Sheng Yuan and cellist Zhu Yibing. One of the main reasons for forming the trio is to provide the Chinese public an opportunity to listen to chamber music, which has a more intimate experience than orchestral concerts due to the much smaller number of players performing, in this case, three. To explain a lack of chamber music presence in China, Tsu Weiling cites pressures for soloists to focus on their solo careers rather than divert time towards small group performances, "I founded The China Trio with two like-minded musicians to fill a vacancy for professional chamber music in China". The China Trio performed at the Shanghai Music in the Summer Air Festival in 2016.

In 2016, Tsu Weiling and her husband, conductor Long Yu, honoured Isaac Stern by launching The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition; the first ever international competition in her hometown. The masterclass entails analysis of the composition by Tsu Weiling to provide detailed notes on bow distribution, stylistic pauses between notes to underline the sound, and attention to the conversational flow between piano and violin.

In an interview with The Strad, Tsu Weiling describes her approach to performing as a soloist among an orchestra, stating that one should learn the entire score as well as the solo part so they can perform with confidence, "the more prepared you are, the more room you have to adjust." She also states that being afraid of playing wrong notes or forgetting parts hinders soloists, causing them to "play like machines" by not making eye contact with the conductor and orchestra. "A performance should be a conversation between the soloist, the conductor and the orchestra; at the same time you have to communicate with the audience. Music should connect, no matter what, through slow notes, long notes, melodic passages, fast passages – even when you have an eight-bar rest while the orchestra plays."

Tsu Weiling is vocal about the need to continuously improve and credits the opportunities she was given for her achievements, "For me, the most disturbing problem at present is not the technical difficulties, but the most basic skills that we gain learning violin at the very beginning...It's more like a feeling and hard to explain but I enjoy, above anything else, the moment when I can extend a beautiful note and let it breathe. I am lucky to have so many great opportunities – and I took them...I will play my violin as long as I can."

Jury positions Tsu Weiling regularly serves as a jury member on a number of notable violin competitions which can provide prize winners with funds and in some cases, loans of valuable instruments such as Stradivarius violins. She credits the opportunity of judging these competitions for improving her own teaching style and solo performances.

List of jury positions:

Sion Valais International Violin Competition (Switzerland), 2005 The Queen Elisabeth Competition (Brussels, Belgium), 2009, Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition 2011, The Menuhin Competition, 2012 The Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition, 2014 The XV International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition Moscow (Russia), 2015. The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (China), 2016, 2018 Elmar Oliveria International Violin Competition, 2017 The Isangyun Competition presented by the Tongyeong International Music Foundation, 2017 The First International Viktor Tretyakov Violin Competition 2018

List of notable performances

Premiere of Tan Dun's Out of Peking Opera and Symphony No. 3 The Great Wall, conducted by David Eaton. Soloist with the New York Symphony Orchestra, at Avery Fisher Hall, in 1988 Solo recital in the national gala for society of members of the Légion d'honneur at the Theatre des Champs-Élysées in Paris 1993, performing Sonate in E-flat Major by Strauss, Melodie and Scherzo by Tchaikovski, and Polonaise brillante by Wieniawski. Chen Jiang on piano accompaniment. Soloist with Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra during their in Berlin and China tour in October 1998 Beijing Music Festival where Tsu Weiling performed with Issac Stern, 1999. At the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, performing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with conductor Krzysztof Penderecki, 2005 Opening ceremony of the Women's Forum for the Economy & Society, 2007 During the 11th Beijing Music Festival in 2008, Tsu Weiling performed Bernstein's Serenade, which was also broadcast in Times Square, New York City As part of the opening of the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, Tsu Weiling played Tan Dun's violin concerto Out of Peking Opera with Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, 30 years after its first performance in at Avery Fisher Hall

Discography Title Album details Release detailsChen/He: Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto (The) / A Ke: Violin Concerto Soloist with Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra Composer(s): A. Kejian, Gang Chen, Zhanhao He Conductor(s): Cao Peng Released: 1994 Label: Marco Polo Formats: CDKorngold/Goldmark: Violin Concertos Soloist with Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra Composer(s): Karl Goldmark, Erich Wolfgang Korngold Conductor(s): Long Yu Released: 1996 Label: Marco Polo Formats: CDHall of Fame Compilation Released: 1996 Label: Marco Polo Formats: CDKorngold/Goldmark: Violin Concertos Soloist with Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra Composer(s): Karl Goldmark, Erich Wolfgang Korngold Conductor(s): Long Yu Released: 1997 Label: Naxos Formats: CDDreaming of My Motherland-Vera Tsui Soloist with Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra Composer(s): Gang Chen, Zhi Huan, Guang Ren, Xiang-lin Zhou, Xiaogu Zhu Conductor(s): Cao Peng Released: 1998 Label: Marco Polo Formats: CDDiscover the Classics, vol.3: The Concerto Compilation Released: 1999 Label: Naxos Educational Formats: CDMarco Polo Sampler Compilation Released: 2000 Label: Marco Polo Formats: CD