Classy sounds from a golden age

Koncz has also arranged French composer Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune and an Australian folk song, Waltzing Matilda for the album.

Chen, who was born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, selected Waltzing Matilda for the album as a tribute to his second hometown.

Speaking about what drives his music, Chen, who was taken to Australia by his parents when he was 4 months old, says: "My Chinese background and my life in Australia both work on me as a violinist, so there is self-discipline and a laidback mindset."

Chen started learning the violin at the age of 4 and was accepted into the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music at 15, where he studied with American violinist Aaron Rosand.

Speaking about Rosand, now 91, who he visited while making this new album, Chen says: "When I told him that I wanted to bring a kind of intimacy to this new album, he understood me at once. We are still student and teacher."

Despite Chen's talent, his progress as a musician was rocky.

Chen, who was regarded as a child prodigy with "perfect pitch", got his first exposure at 8 years old when he was invited to perform at the opening of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics in Japan, his first overseas tour. Then, at 13, he won the National Youth Concerto Competition in Australia, which bolstered his confidence.

But he failed to clear the entrance test when he first applied to join the Curtis Institute of Music.

And his biggest break did not come until he was 19 when he won the 2008 International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition.

Speaking about that change in his fortunes, Chen says: "Some of the competitors were about 14 or 15, much younger than me, so I had to work hard to catch up. But the success enabled me to look at my career differently."

In 2012, Chen became the youngest soloist to perform at the televised Nobel Prize Concert for the Nobel laureates and the Swedish royal family. And, in 2015, Chen moved to Berlin.

Now, as one of the busiest young violinists in the world, Chen has just wrapped up his tour of China from June 8 to 15, visiting Zhuhai, in Guangdong province, Xi'an, in Shaanxi province, and Suzhou, in Jiangsu province.

As for the future, he is booked up for performances until 2020.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn