"She is, like Mozart & Mendelssohn before her time, a true prodigy..."
Michael Gough Matthews, Director of the Royal College of Music

Born in Singapore on Paganini's birthday, Vanessa-Mae moved to London at the age of four. She first started playing the violin aged five, and after her extraordinary natural talent quickly became apparent, studied in Beijing and at London's Royal College of Music, before making her professional debut with the Philharmonia aged 10.
Between the age of 10 and 14, she proceeded to astound audiences the world over with her ‘supernatural' performances of virtuosic showpieces and recordings of classic concertos by Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky amongst others. Praise for the recordings was plentiful including this quote from Gramophone Magazine: "That Vanessa-Mae is phenomenally talented is beyond dispute… Vanessa-Mae displays a distinctive tone, impressive technical address, and innate musicianship…" These discs now form part of a 3-CD set: Vanessa-Mae the Classical Collection Part 1, which is the first general release of her brilliant early recordings.

With the release of her debut pop album in 1995, she created a completely new type of fusion music and discovered an enthusiastic audience of millions worldwide. Initially it caused outrage among some die-hard traditionalist critics, but has proved enormously popular around the world among music lovers of all kinds. It is admired with passion by musicians and imitated by violinists from all over the world.

Vanessa-Mae is an explosive live performer with a gruelling touring programme that has taken her around the world several times over in concerts of formidable complexity and length. Her concerts showcase not only her violinistic strengths, but combine her singing and dancing talents through a wide repertoire in concerts often running to over three hours. In her last world tour alone, she performed in over 250 cities in 35 countries, packing in new audiences crossing both ways into her ‘pop' series and her straight ‘classical' concerts.

Her last pop tour - the Storm On World Tour, based on her hit album Storm, went to the Middle East, South Africa, China, South East Asia, Russia, the UK, all over Europe, the Baltic States and Mexico, with performances in many spectacular venues such as the Kremlin Palace in Moscow, an outdoor pyrotechnic extravaganza in Dubai, and stadiums in Beijing and Shanghai. Whilst in Buenos Aires she joined with The Backstreet Boys for an impromptu performance on the final concert of their summer tour of the Americas. She recently became the first international artiste to perform at the new arena in Astana, the newly created capital of Kazakstan in Central Asia.

Not content with performing in some of the world's most illustrious concert venues, Vanessa-Mae is constantly bringing music to new places and new people:


performances

She made her US debut in Times Square, when she hopped spontaneously onto a passing yellow taxi, in the climax to an explosive performance seen all over the world.

In April 1998, she performed exclusively for the 26 Heads of Asia-European Government as well as Her Majesty The Queen and other members of the Royal Family at the official closing of the asem2 Conference at Buckingham Palace.

As a respected classical artiste she recently appeared as special guest star at The London Bach Society's commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the death of JS Bach, hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales at St James' Palace.

A unique artiste bringing together the worlds of music and sport, Vanessa-Mae was the first foreign performer invited to play the national anthem at Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park, and has recently done the same at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Vail, Colorado, where she performed two concerts of a unique blend of classical and techno-acoustic music. She has performed at the Ajax arena in Amsterdam to a stunned and delighted football audience of 60,000, provided the climax to the International Go-Karting championships in Helsinki, and in 1999 performed at the opening race of the Grand Prix season in Melbourne.

Invited to give the first ever concert staged on the Trocadero in Paris, with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop. Vanessa-Mae was the only foreign artiste invited to perform at the moment of Reunification of Hong Kong to China at midnight on June 30-July 01, making her the last non-Chinese artiste to perform in Hong Kong under British rule as well as the first under Chinese rule. She recently became the first international artiste to visit the Township of Soweto in South Africa by invitation, playing with and meeting children from a local music school. Her firm belief in breaking barriers with music has won her a loyal audience of all ages and races. In 1997 she gave the first ever concert on the famed frozen lake of St. Moritz, delta-gliding down from 2400m to make a spectacular entrance. May 2000 saw her open the first ever Classical Brit Awards in London's Royal Albert Hall, with an incredible performance of Storm accompanied by members of the ensemble "Lauriat", and Devils Trill (from her album Original Four Seasons).

Now 21 years old, Vanessa-Mae has transcended her child-prodigy roots to become an international icon. Apart from having introduced the violin to millions of people world-wide through her musical talent, her universal appeal has taken her far from the boundaries of the world of music. At 16 she set a record as the youngest person in the world to address the 172-year-old Oxford Union and recently became the first musician ever to be featured by Sir David Frost in his long-running Sunday political magazine show on BBC TV. She has been the subject of numerous documentaries and news features all over the world.


the red cross

Vanessa-Mae first became involved with the Red Cross through her work with Michel Comte, the world-renowned photographer who maintains close links with the ICRC. Her first action was to participate in the international TV campaign Even Wars Have Limits, for which she also provided the music. This was followed by a field trip to Lokichokio, Kenya where she encountered for the first time the devastating effect of civil war on innocent victims.

Since then, Vanessa-Mae has performed three concerts for the benefit of the ICRC at the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions in August 1999, undertaken a field trip to visit the orphans of Cambodia, and headlined The Power of Humanity, the opening show of the International Conference of Red Cross Societies.

Vanessa-Mae has contributed in a unique way to a number of unusual film projects. Having filmed her own silent movie (based on music from her album the original four seasons), she went on to collaborate with Walt Disney Pictures on the soundtrack of their animated feature Mulan. Her arrangement and recording of Reflection was used as the end credit title single. Her first fully-fledged acting role came in 1999 with the filming of a lavish new production of the classic Arabian Nights tales for ABC, in which she stars as Princess Zobeide opposite Jason Scott Lee's Aladdin. Arabian Nights was screened in the UK and USA in May 2000


fashion

Voted one of the "50 Most Beautiful People In The World" by People magazine and a "Top 100 Beauty" by Now, Vanessa-Mae receives constant attention from the world's fashion and beauty media. She has appeared in many of the world's most prestigious fashion publications including Vogue Italia, and has worked with some of the most renowned photographers in the world including Ellen von Unwerth, Michel Comte and Lord Lichfield. She recently created a sensation at Paris fashion week with her catwalk debut at Jean-Paul Gaultier's show, when she gave a surprise impromptu performance with her violin whilst modelling the centrepiece of the show - the wedding dress.


the music

Having recorded three classical albums between the ages of 11 and 13, becoming the youngest person ever to record the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven concertos in the process, Vanessa-Mae entered an exclusive contract with EMI. This uniquely enables her to record and release albums simultaneously on both the classical and pop labels, both of which have proved her talents as a musician regardless of genre.


Vanessa-Mae: the classical collection part 1

A unique 3-CD set of Vanessa-Mae's earliest recordings made in 1991-2 is now out for release in September 2000. These recordings showcase the precocious virtuoso in the wide cross-section of repertoire – from concertos to light classical and popular music – that has become her trademark. The Russian Album includes the violin concertos by Tchaikovsky and Kabalevky and a dazzling arrangement of the Russian Dance from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The Viennese Album contains the Beethoven Violin Concerto, three Kreisler bonbons and Marius Casadesus's Violin Concerto in D, Adelaide, in the style of Mozart. The Virtuoso Album contains 16 tracks spanning the classics, cinema, pop, folk and opera. There's Bach's Air on the G String, the themes from The Pink Panther, and Gershwin's Summertime.


the violin player

Vanessa-Mae's debut pop album in 1995 established her as a world star, racing up the pop charts in over 25 countries, as well as breaking new ground for instrumental music.


the classical album 1

Proving her determination not to turn her back on her classical roots, this release couples core repertoire by German composers Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and Bruch. It instantly became the fastest-selling classical recording ever, and won Vanessa-Mae the World Music Award for ‘Best-Selling Classical Artiste'

china girl (the classical album 2)

Vanessa-Mae goes back to her Chinese roots for her second classical album which features a unique and beautiful mix of eastern and western melodies, including her own arrangement of Puccini's favourite Nessun Dorma, and Happy Valley, her own composition commissioned for the re-unification of Hong Kong to China.


storm

Following in the footsteps of The Violin Player, Storm takes the violin on an even greater adventure of styles, including rock, disco, acid jazz and flamenco influences.


the original four seasons

Vanessa-Mae's stunning new arrangement of Vivaldi's classic features Laureate, her own handpicked orchestra consisting entirely of international award-winning players.