Roast duck and roast pork were all violinist Ray Chen knew about Hong Kong before he made his debut appearance here last year. But something about the city touched the charismatic 23-year-old, he says ahead of his second concert in Hong Kong this week.
'I love it. It's so cosmopolitan and truly East-meets-West,' says Chen, winner of the Yehudi Menuhin Competition in 2008 and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2009.
'My background, being born in Taiwan, growing up in Australia and studying in the United States, is also very East-meets-West. When I go to Taiwan, it's still Taiwan. When I go to Australia, it's very Australia. But when I'm in Hong Kong, wow, it's just the perfect combination.'
The Philadelphia-based violinist, who performs about 70 concerts a year around the world, fondly recalls his performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta at the Arts Festival 2011. 'It was a great experience for me playing the work right before I recorded it in Stockholm a week after,' he says.
In much the same way, the Max Bruch Violin ConcertoNo 1 he will perform with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra this week will herald another milestone in Chen's professional career. 'It's just been confirmed that I will make my debut at New York's Carnegie Hall next February with, yes, the Bruch concerto,' he says with excitement.
The honour, he adds, is actually a second leg of an even greater honour. 'The orchestra I will be performing with in New York is the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, with which I will perform at the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm in December this year,' he says.