Former violin prodigy Ho Hong-ying brings gift of music to the young and deprived
Violinist Ho Hong-ying was a 12-year-old star of the 1979 film From Mao To Mozart. Now she is bringing the gift of music to Hong Kong children
A former violin prodigy hopes to give something back to her adopted hometown by taking the joy of music to young and deprived Hongkongers - and offering some advice for society.
And Ho Hong-ying, who moved to the city in 1994 after studying at prestigious schools at home on the mainland and in New York, has a perfect example of how working with a gifted musician can inspire.
She remains perhaps best known for a scene in the Oscar-winning 1979 documentary From Mao to Mozart, in which legendary violinist Isaac Stern asked the then-school pupil to play and then sing on stage.
"I was 12 then and was in the middle of a nap when my teacher knocked at my door to break the news that I would be performing for the world's most famous violinist, and that I should take the task seriously," recalled Ho, who was studying at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
"But I was too young to feel scared, even in front of a fully packed hall and a league of professors and teachers on stage, and I played the entire Tartini Sonata, not just the excerpt people see in the documentary," she said.
But she was surprised when the maestro asked her to put down her instrument and sing.
"Good thing I like singing and thanks to all those revolutionary model plays during the Cultural Revolution I could sing by memory," she said, laughing.