If a violinist's value can be judged by the price of his violin, Lu Siqing's will be worth five times more on Saturday, when the Stradivari Society loans him a 1742 Guarneri violin worth US$6 million. It will replace his previously honoured violin, the Amati, worth US$ 1 million.

The concert will feature both the guqin, an ancient Chinese zither, and the very valuable Stradivari, Guarneri and Amati violins this Saturday evening, in celebration of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival at the Forbidden City Concert Hall.

One of the most celebrated Chinese violinists, Lu was the first Asian violinist to win the gold prize at the Paganini International Violin Competition in Italy in 1987 when he was only 18 years old.

Born in 1969 in Qingdao, in East China's Shandong Province, Lu began studying the violin with his father, a music lover, at the age of four.

By age eight, he had been admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as the youngest student ever accepted, where he studied with Professor Wang Zhenshan.

Three years later, Lord Yehudi Menuhin chose Lu to study at his school in London. In 1989, he went to the Juilliard School and studied with renowned violinist Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang.

Since winning the Pagnini Golden Prize, he has performed with acclaim in more than 30 countries throughout Asia, Europe, South and North Americas.

In June 1996, Lu became the first Chinese musician to present a personal music week, "Lu Siqing Week" in Beijing, during which he performed seven concertos and several virtuoso pieces in four separate concerts.

His 1997 release "Traumerei Romantic Violin Favorites," with pianist Robert Koenig, was voted "One of the Best 100 CDs of 1997" by the Sound Symposium.

"He has a clear sound. It is dazzling and crystalline, and it reveals Lu to be a great talent," said Li Chen, a local music critic.

As one of the best Chinese violinists of his time, Lu has a fantastically smooth and controlled bow arm and his tone is rich and lyrical.

But his ambition is not just to be a fantastic performer but "a bridge between Chinese and Western music."

"Performing around the world is not enough, I need more time to stay in China and do regular work for cross-cultural communication," he said.

He found his chance by establishing the "Lu Siqing Music Studio" with the help of Kwans Culture Promotion Co Ltd last month.

"When I worked with the company for my concerts in China early this year, I learned that the company shares my ideal of promoting Chinese music to the world as well as introducing Western music to China," said Lu.

The studio will plan to bring some talented Chinese musicians to Western countries through international concert tours, and popularize Western classic music at home by giving regular concerts, classes, lectures and workshops.

His first step will be through the concert on Saturday where Lu will play the "Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto," a most famous and popular Chinese violin concerto.

Lu's interpretation of the piece has been widely considered the best among more than 30 available recordings of the work.

Both Chen Gang and He Zhanhao, two composers of the concerto, were moved to tears when they heard Lu's rendition.

Chen said that although the concerto is better suited for a female violinist, Lu's interpretation was the most expressive one he had ever heard.

Lu will also play Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" with the four precious violins to the four seasons. In February 2000, he recorded the album of this piece with six Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesu and Amati violins in Toronto.

Before the concerts, the five violins he will use will be exhibited at the concert hall and representatives from the Stradivari Society in Chicago will present him with the US$6 million violin.

Chinese traditional instruments such as the guqin, pipa and xiao will also be played by famous traditional instrument performers.

( China Daily September 17, 2002)