PINCHAS ZUKERMAN once said he was born to be a violinist, but it's easy to imagine him in another life as a movie actor. Lantern-jawed handsome and brimming with easy charm, the Israeli musician and conductor carries the sort of star wattage and charisma normally associated with Hollywood than the sometimes musty world of classic music. Zukerman knows a little about Hollywood, after a 13-year marriage to actress Tuesday Weld. His 'let's not go there' look suggests it wasn't always a happy experience. These days, he travels the world with wife No3, beautiful South African-born cellist Amanda Forsyth, who will be performing with him in Hong Kong this week. Good-looking and outrageously talented: it hardly seems fair. A former student of the late great violinist Isaac Stern and a graduate of New York's Juilliard School, Zukerman has been described as a genius whose 'technically impeccable' and 'sensuous' violin playing sounds like 'liquid gold'. 'His sound is utterly inimitable,' wrote one critic. 'Liquid gold - I love that description,' he says with a laugh. 'I've had a journey of almost 50 years. I started playing on stage at 10 and I'm now almost 60.' The 57-year-old, known to his friends as Pinky, gives a 'what can you do' shrug. 'I work my ass off. I'm adamant about aspects of music-making. I don't screw around. Mediocrity is poison.' The pursuit of perfection has earned Zukerman a reputation as a demanding taskmaster, both as a teacher (he's credited with helping to launch the career of, among others, Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts) and as director of the Canada National Arts Centre Orchestra. 'Practise, practise, practise,' he once said of the secret to success. 'It's what I learned most from Isaac Stern. When you see talent, you have got to nurture it. I will step through fire for talent.' But he's equally tough on himself, says Forsyth. 'He plays every day, without fail, even on holiday. I only do what is necessary at the time. But it doesn't matter what is happening, he is always playing.' What's the source of this drive? His passion for what he does is part of the package. 'Music mainly comes from the subconscious, as does my love for it. Picking up a violin for me is like touching her,' he says, nodding to his wife. 'It's not because I want to have sex. It's a complete sensuous feeling that transfers to my being. And I'm a better person because of it.' Zukerman admits to a very human fear of failure. 'The vulnerability of not knowing whether you're that good, or that you're as good as you think, is what drives you,' he says. 'People say, 'How do you get on the stage and play the same piece?' and I say it's because I'm very vulnerable - as vulnerable as I was the first time.' He also credits the 'amazing' people who taught him, including Stern, the late cellist Pablo Casals and the then head of the violin department at Juilliard, the late Ivan Galamian. His first and most influential teacher, however, was his father, a Polish musician who spent three years playing violin in the Auschwitz concentration camp before making it to Israel. It's a Holocaust survival story almost as inspirational as that of his mother, who manicured the nails of SS officers in the Warsaw ghetto. One imagines the only son of this remarkable union being brought up with an iron will to succeed. 'I don't know if he ever felt the need to succeed,' says Forsyth. 'I think it's really about a strong feeling of responsibility for this talent that was given to him.' Is the talent god-given or man-made? 'It comes from the sand in the desert,' says Zukerman, laughing. 'I grew up in a fantastic place: Israel in the 1950s. There was a revival and a resurgence of the human spirit and I lived within a framework of phenomenal standards formed by people from Europe and its traditions. If there is one cornerstone of my character it is that: my domicile. It's my C-major scale.' Although a good deal younger, Forsyth, who is also an only child, shares with Zukerman this immigrant background. 'I was born in Cape Town and my dad was a painter first, and then he started composing before moving to Canada. I asked him why were we moving and he said, 'Because it's the safest place in the world'.' They make an appealing pair: the laid-back, cerebral and greying maestro and the straight-talking, high-voltage Forsyth. Like many couples, they often finish each other's sentences and are clearly close after eight years together, including many hundreds of hours playing on stage. Zukerman respects her musical judgment, and occasional criticism. 'She's got great ears,' he says. And like all couples, they know where the skeletons are buried. 'I'll tell you a story,' says Forsyth. 'Pinky once left his violin in a pool hall when he was with the Juilliard because he didn't have money and played for fried-egg sandwiches. One day he woke up and realised he'd left his violin behind. Well, the teacher then was like the wrath of god if you didn't have your instrument. So he went outside and persuaded a couple of tough New York cops to take him to the pool hall. His violin was there and then they drove him back. I call that the luck of the Pink!' 'That's when I was beginning to get serious,' says Zukerman, to laughter from his wife. 'I thought, 'This is enough of this, I've got to start working here'.' Thousands of performances, 100 titles and 21 Grammy nominations later, Zukerman is one of a handful of violinists, like Stern, whose status has transcended his craft. Chinese audiences will have a chance to sample what the fuss is about this month as he embarks on a tour of Hong Kong, Taipei and Shanghai. Although Zukerman has been to China before, the June 14 performance of Mozart's Violin Concerto No5 and Brahms' Concerto for Violin in A Minor will be his first with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta orchestra, conducted by Yip Wing-sie. Expect his usual bravura virtuosity, and what some have described as his 'feathery light' playing of Mozart. He's full of praise for the Chinese musicians he has worked with, including Teng Li. 'They are incredible people - wonderful talent. What marks them most as musicians is their work ethic, a need to succeed. And the numbers of people studying are astronomical. 'I was in Beijing in 1995, but so much has changed, so I'm very much looking forward to it.' Appassionata - A Gala Evening with Pinchas Zukerman (and Amanda Forsyth) and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, June 14, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, $100, $180, $280, $480. Inquiries: 2836 3336