Violist Andrew Ling is immune to stage fright and has been taught by the best
Violist Andrew Ling has never known stage fright and has learnt from some elite mentors, writes Oliver Chou
Andrew Ling Hin-yau, principal violist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, recently shared his secret for success with young local musicians: "It has to be your life mission, and there can be no shortcuts. But if you work hard, it will be yours for a long time."
Ling should know. He is the only Hong Kong-born section leader among the strings, woodwind and brass in the city's flagship orchestra, and made worldwide news last month when he was chosen to play the "MacDonald" viola made by the legendary Antonio Stradivari at a Sotheby pre-sale roadshow in Hong Kong.
I was too young to be nervous and did what I was asked to do
The 1719 viola had an estimated sale price of US$45 million and is expected to become the most expensive instrument ever sold when the winning bid is announced next month. "It looks great and the veneer is almost like new. Yet it took me half an hour to break in before its sound began to open up. It has the same sound quality as a Stradivari violin I played before. But I could tell this viola had not been played for a long time," says Ling, 31. As it turns out, it had sat idle for 27 years since its previous owner, the late violist Peter Schidlof of the Amadeus Quartet, died in 1987.
"They gave me an hour to practise on it and I played with my own bow. Some friends were worried that the antique viola might slip through my hands and that could cost me a few hundred million [Hong Kong] dollars. But I didn't feel nervous at all."
This immunity from stage fright, Ling adds, has much to do with his music training from a very young age. "My first instrument was the piano and my mother was always with me when I practised. She set up fixed timeslots for when to play and when to take a break," he says.
"I think that regularity is very important for a young kid, and that parents play a much bigger role than teachers."
At the age of six, Ling's father took him to a violin recital, and it was love at first sight. "I just loved the sound of it, and my mother enrolled me in Yip's music school [run by renowned local music director Yip Wai-hong], where I sang in the chorus and studied the violin. Unlike the piano, the violin is hard for a beginner, so I spent a lot of time mastering the basics," he says.