Overview
Biography
Li Chuan Yun (李傳韻), also known as Chanyun Li or Babeli (born 1980) is a Chinese violin virtuoso. He began studying violin at the age of 3 and won his first prize in Beijing when he was five. Li performed all the violin solos for the film Together[1] and also starred in the film. He is often cited as the youngest professional violinist in the world. He also performed the solo Czardas composed by Vitorrio Monti and added a lot of stuff to it. That was also another famous song he played. Li Chuanyun's Chinese name is 李傳韻.
Li Chuanyun is widely recognized as the youngest professional violinist in the world. Born to a musical family in the coastal city of Qingdao in Northern China, his career began at the age of three, when his parents taught him to play the violin at home.
Li began to collect awards early. At five, he won his first championship at the Beijing Youth and Junior Violin Competition. At eleven, he received the top award at the Fifth Wieniawski International Youth Violin Competition, becoming the youngest winner in the competition's history.
But it is not awards that stir Li's passion. His motivation is music.
"The relationship between me and violin is that of soulmates. It's a kind of spiritual support, something like that. "
Almost everyone agree that he is talented. Professor Lin Yaoji from the Central Conservatory of Music, the most prestigious music education center in China, recalls the first time he listened to six-year-old Li Chuanyun.
"I didn't take it seriously at first, a six-year-old playing Lalo, I just dismissed it. But once the boy started playing, I saw huge talent. I was amazed."
In 1996 Li studied at the Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay, Itzhak Perlman and Hyo Kang;later he continued his study with Delay and Kurt Sassmannshaus at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
Professor Kurt Sassmannshaus said "It's very rare that one person has the ability to transform a musical idea immediately into sound. Most people have to think about the technique. But Li Chuanyun just plays."
Li Chuanyuan is best remembered by Chinese audiences for his violin performance in the renowned Chinese director Chen Kaige's movie "Together" in 2002. The story relates the love between a father and a son who plays the violin. Li performed and recorded the soundtrack's solo violin music. The Washington Post noted "at the end, it's difficult to know what's bringing tears to your eyes - the sweetness of the moment or Li's ethereal playing, which has given the movie such a magnificent aural backdrop." Li's mother Qiu Xingye, a violin teacher, recalls what the director said about the young violinist:
"Most people... even they don't understand classical music, Chuanyun can make them attracted and make them cry. He can have that ability. So Kaige said 'Chuanyun will make classical music close to people.' He felt that way. He said 'we just wait and see'."
Chuanyun has been labelled by some as crazed and unbridled because of often eclectic and spontaneous style. However, Qiu Xingye thinks it's a misunderstanding.
"Chuan Yun is very lovely and sensitive. He can't hurt any people, even an animal. Some people always say he is crazy. I think they misunderstand him. Actually he is very sensitive. For example, if he saw a beggar or somebody who can't walk, he feels sad. He thinks what if he's like that, how would he feel. He thinks a lot and then it becomes depression. That's his problem. Actually he cares about people. He wants to feel about these people why they are sad, and then he feels sad himself."
Then what does the young violinist think about his dynamic and expressive range and spontaneous outbreak?
"Control myself more. That will be good. I mean, I always put too much energy, anger maybe, power into it. I can play like, more mild, more gentle. I think I have that kind of ability. But it depends whether I want to do it or not."
While other musical prodigies like violinist Ning Feng, pianist Li Yundi or Lang Lang have gained fame in the international arena, Li Chuanyun has lagged behind. With his passion, innocence, spontaneity and sensitivity, the boyish violinist can only be on the path to success.
