Vanessa-Mae

a true child prodigy, like Mozart and Mendelssohn

The above description was made by the Director of the Royal College of Music to describe the unique and brilliant violinist, Vanessa Mae.

Born Vanessa-Mae Nicholson on October 27, 1978 in Singapore, she moved to the United Kingdom at age four. She started playing piano at three , and the violin at five. At ten, she played her first concert with the Philharmonia and at age twelve, she began her first international tour. Also at twelve, she made her first recording, which included one of her own compositions in the form of a cadenza for a Mozart violin concerto. Her second album included her own violin interpretations of Heifetz, Kreisler and Paganini. Album number 3 was recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and included performances of the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven violin concertos; she became the youngest ever to record these concertos.

Vanessa's fourth album, 'The Violin Player', was released in 1995 and was her first pop album, in which she created her own 'techno-acoustic fusion' violin music. In this recording, she used both her 200-year-old Guadagnini and her Zeta JV-204 electric violin. In 1996, Vanessa released her 5th album, 'The Classical Album I', which sold half a million copies within two weeks, making her the fastest selling classical solo artiste.

Today, Vanessa Mae continues to tour and record and has recently released 'The Classical Album III' and the "pop" recordings, 'Storm' and a mini LP, 'The Alternative Record'.