[VMSingapore]
[Reality Captured]
[PVM Knights]
Vanessa-Mae has been called the musical phenomenon of the 90's. At 13 she was already a veteran of classical concerts and recordings, and at fourteen she had begun to work on new alternative violin music, using a combination of traditional acoustic violin.
In 1994, Vanessa-Mae joined EMI in an unprecedented deal, contracted to record both pop and classical in a unique arrangement for a unique artiste, she released her debut "techno-acoustic fusion" album. The Violin Player, together with her first pop single Toccata & Fugue which stayed in the UK acharts for over two months.
The multi-platinum "pop" album, which spun 3 hit singles, is an unprecedented world-wide success selling millions internationally and charting in over 20 countries. The album established Vanessa-Mae as EMI's best-selling new artiste of 1995 and 1996. In the USA, the album has never left the Top 20 Billboard Chart since its release over a year and a half ago. Vanessa-Mae is a major international success story for the British music industry.
In January 1996 Vanessa-Mae was nominated for Best Female Solo Artiste in the BRIT Awards, scoring a "first" for an instrumentalist and the honour of being the youngest ever nominee for this prestigious pop award. She also kicked-off her Red Hot World Tour which took her to 33 countries, many of them several times in response to demand, performing on TV and in "live" concerts and rock festivals such as San Remo in Italy, Midtfyns in Denmark and Out in the Green in Switzerland, earning standing ovations everywhere. At Zurich's Out in the Green, performing between sets by Status Quo and Rod Stewart, she excited the 50,000 strong audience into a 20 minute ovation. There was uproar when she left and it took a compere 10 minutes to calm the crowd before Rod Stewart could start his set.
Vanessa-Mae further reinforced her reputation as an explosive "live" artiste at the long-running Sopot Festival, sharing the bill with Annie Lennox in a "live" broadcast concert. Due to crowd demand, Vanessa-Mae's performance was extended by several encores, causing transmission of the national TV prime-time news to be delayed in deference to this overwhelming response. The album rocketed to multi platinum status, an historic achievement in Poland for a foreign recording artiste.
In October 1996, Vanessa-Mae fulfilled a promise and the challenge to maintain a dual career by returning to her classical roots. She released the first of a new series of straight classical recordings and The Classical Album 1 shot to the top of the Classical Charts this time, selling 250,000 within 2 weeks of release. It is the fastest selling classical album in every territory in which it has been released. The Classical Album Series is a project as close to her heart as her alternative techno-acoustic violin music. With this series she traces and collects her classical heritage on disc to share with both traditional classical fans who have come to know and like the instrument only through her alternative violin music.
Vanessa-Mae was born in Singapore on 27th October. Paganini's birthday, and moved to London at the age of four, where she started her early music education on the piano and the violin. After training as the youngest student with Professor Lin Yao Ji of the Central Conservatoire of China in Beijing and with Professor Felix Andrievsky of the Royal College of Music in London, Vanessa-Mae made her concerto debut in London with an orchestra at the age of 10.
By the time she was 12 she had toured internationally as concerto soloist and recitalist, released 2 classical recordings and embarked on her third, which was to set a world record establishing her as the youngest ever to record the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven Violin Concertos.
Critical acclaim for her work in a wide classical repertoire ranged from "super-natural" to comparisons with Mozart and Mendelssohn for being a "true child prodigy."
As a "live" concert artiste, Vanessa-Mae stands unique, straddling both classical and rock and pop arenas with equal authority. She is in command of a formidable classical technique, musicianship and repertoire for her classical concerts, as well as a dazzling virtuosity and power of projection which she employs to full effect in performing her own music.
Vanessa-Mae and her music have crossed all cultural, geographical and generational barriers. From the then rare achievement in 1995 of being the only artiste ever to headline a classical concert at the Royal Festival Hall, performing a violin concerto with orchestra in the same week as selling out her own Red Hot techno-acoustic fusion concert at the Royal Albert Hall, she has gone on to achieve international recognition all over the world, touring as pop-star and classical maestro in prestigious venues and for important occasions.
