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Feature Articles - Hu Kun

Hu Kun - World Class Violinist - Teacher and Master Performer

Hu Kun gives performances around the world

It’s not just his great talent and superb playing of the violin that make Hu Kun such an interesting performer, it’s also his background, his determination to learn against all odds during the Chinese Revolution, and his present position as a professor at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music and at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Along with a busy teaching schedule Kun gives recitals and performances with symphonies around the world, and on Saturday, March 29 he will be appearing at the Port Theatre with Tetsuumi Nagata, Maestro Marlin Wolfe and the Vancouver Island Symphony for the Gourmet Special “Double Magic”.

Hu Kun, a world class violinist, started playing at a very young age, much like Nanaimo’s Tetsuumi Nagata, and was once the only private student and protégé of the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin, founder of the school Tetsuumi now attends.

Hu Kun was only three when he started playing violin

Kun was only three years old when the Cultural Revolution in China began (1966-1976). He and his sister were taught music at home by their father, Hu Wei Ming, and mother, Pen Shi Jung, both professors at the Szechuan Conservatory. The family was often divided as his parents were alternately sent away to do farm work. Western music was officially banned but pockets of culture continued to exist. Kun’s mother copied by hand most of the études that they played.

Hu Kun’s dream - to enter the Conservatory in Beijing

Kun’s dream was to enter the Conservatory in Beijing. He was refused. He felt this was another way of punishing his parents. His alternate was to become a member of a new military group, an ensemble formed by the National Defence Science Technology Committee. At 13 Kun was the youngest officer. The forty-piece orchestra performed for various army troops around the country and when they finally reached Beijing, Hun auditioned and was accepted as a private pupil by Professor Lin Yoao Ji of the Beijing Conservatory. At only 15 Kun won both the preliminary Northern competition in 1978 and the national selections for the 1980 Sibelius Competition and was one of three candidates sent to Finland that year. He was awarded fifth prize and upon his return, as the first person from Mainland China to win a prize at an international violin competition, he was honoured with a party, organized and televised by the Cultural Service. When asked what he wanted as a reward, his only comment was that he wanted to study in the Conservatory.

Kun became a student of the conservatory on condition that he retain his defence membership and his uniform. From the conservatory, Kun went on to the Menuhin Academy in Gstaad, Switzerland, another dream come true. After entering the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Belgium his world opened up and he was invited to perform for concerts all over Europe. He won the Menuhin International Violin Competition then received the title “Grand Laureat de la Ville de Paris.”

The only private student and protégé of Lord Yehudi Menuhin

In 1986 Kun was invited by Lord Menuhin to London. Teacher and student played all over the world together and made several recordings under several labels. While Kun played, Menuhin conducted, from world premiers in London to the Chinese premier performance of the Elgar Violin Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra of China. Kun is also credited with introducing classical Chinese music to Western audiences.

Kun continues with his teaching and performing. Now when looking for recent information on Hu Kun on the internet you’ll find many entries of “studied with”, or “studying with Professor Hu Kun”. Recently two of his students, Natalia Lomeiko and Feng Ning, were major competition winners.

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