The girl was Kyung-Wha Chung, a musical genius, who made her solo debut at the age of nine.

When the last note finished, the British audience, famous for its reserve, broke into loud applause and rushed the stage to congratulate her.

Chung made herself a household name in Europe in that season almost overnight.

Born into a musical family in South Korea, Chung began studying the violin at the age of six. Originally, she was sent to piano lessons, but the sound didn't appeal to her. When a friend of her father gave her a violin, she took to it immediately.

By the time Chung was 12, her parents were faced with a dilemma: To let their daughter take advantage of the opportunity to study with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School of Music, New York, or to keep her at home as the "best and brightest" on the local classical music scene. Chung left her protective family circle to study at Juilliard. "To put it mildly, I started a whole new life," she recalled later. There were immense difficulties to surmount: loneliness, an unfamiliar language and a city that was i

ntimidating before she learned its ways.

After she moved from South Korea to New York - from a gregarious extended family to an apartment shared with only one elder sister - her carefree childhood ended. "From that time on, my commitment to music was the beacon that showed the way for me," she said.

The Juilliard of the early '60s was quite different from a modern international conservatory. "Mr Galamian had one Japanese boy and me as the sole Korean in his class," she said. "No other Asian students were to be found anywhere in New York. We were kind of a novelty."

With her great talent and profound comprehension of music, Chung conquered New York, then Europe and later the whole world. After winning the Leventritt Competition in 1967, she embarked upon a career in North America, appearing with many of the finest orchestras. She made her sensational European debut in 1970 at the Royal Festival Hall, playing a Tchaikovsky concerto. Her success was such that she was immediately booked for three more London concerts, a tour of Japan and a television appearance. Engagemen

ts with the London Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra followed and from then on, her international career was firmly established.

During the past two decades, she has appeared in recitals and with virtually all of the major orchestras and conductors throughout North America, Europe and the Far East.

An exclusive recording artist with EMI Classics since 1988, her recording of the "Bartok Violin Concerto No 2" and the two rhapsodies with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Simon Rattle earned a coveted Gramophone Award. Her most recent recording on EMI Classics consists of Brahms' violin sonatas.

Chamber music plays a very important part in Chung's performing life. Her EMI Classics recording of Beethoven's "Piano Trios Op 11 and 97 (Archduke)" with her brother Myung-Whun Chung and her sister Myung-Wha Chung, released in 1994, has received great critical acclaim. The Chung Trio is also the honoured bearer of the title Honorary Ambassador of the United Nations Drug Control Programme.

Having previously maintained a busy schedule of nearly 120 concerts each season, Chung now restricts her performances to no more than 60 a year in order to devote more time to her two sons, Frederick and Eugene.

On April 23 at Shanghai Grand Theatre, she will give a solo concert. The concert, of which Shanghai Star is a co-sponsor, will show both her individual performing style and interpretation as well as her amazing technical skills. But, to her, the former two are more important than the latter. She said: "I never deliberately show off my skills, the music always flows naturally from the bottom of my heart."

The programmes include Bach's "Suite No 3 in G" and "Air," Debussy's "Sonata for Violin and Piano" and Frank's "Violin Sonata in A Major."

These programmes are quite typical of her wide repertoire, ranging from the Baroque period to 20th century modern works.

Time: 7:15 pm

Place: 300 People's Boulevard

Admission: 120-800

Tel: 6437-6959, 6437-6619, 6372-8701, 6322-3417