Pressure point: Child soloist suffers nosebleed in concert

Pressure point: Child soloist suffers nosebleed in concert

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norman lebrecht

February 21, 2019

An 11 year-old Australian violinist, Christian Li, was making his debut with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra yesterday when he sprang a nosebleed.

The conductor, Benjamin Northey, stepped off the podium to wipe his nose.

You can watch the moment here.

Northey writes: Every now and again a concert comes up which truly has everything. Last night at the Myer Bowl with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was such a concert. A world premiere of a new Australian work by Mark Holdsworth, a sensational debut by a visiting international star violinist Veriko Tchumburidze, a mind boggling MSO debut by 11 y.o. Aussie wunderkind violinist Christian Li, Calvin Bowman played Saint-Saens 3 beautifully as ever and with Mairi Nicolson broke the all time record for double-entendres in a live broadcast (it was after 9pm…). We had blood & magic all in front of 10,000+ Melburnians who love and appreciate their music and their orchestra. I might need a little lie down.

 

Comments

  • v says:

    Love it! He played through it. Didn’t stop him. Brave lad.

  • aj says:

    Poor child …one may look on him as not so much brave
    as exploited .A spontaneous nose bleed may be a
    signal that something is amiss in the little body..

    • Bone says:

      Or it could just be a nosebleed. My 8 year old grandson has them all the time.

    • Melvyn Roy Cann says:

      This is such a predictable response. Have you seen Christian play? He is totally absorbed in what he is doing. He so visibly lives the music. That is why he speaks so strongly to his audience. There is something amiss in everyone’s body. As for ‘exploitation’, you might speak of that if Carlton United Brewery were sending him all over the world promoting their beer. In the present context, your comment does not make sense…One opportunity with the MSO…’exploitation’. And what do you actually know of the motives of Christian’s parents, his teacher or of the MSO. My observation is that everyone around Christian is simply deeply moved and excited by him, wanting to give him every chance for his gifts to grow.

  • Anthony Pasquill says:

    He still smashed it! Bravo Christian

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    We will be hearing much more in the future about this wonderful boy.

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