She's In Tune! THE VIOLINIST

Fifteen-year-old quadruple threat Donna Lee aims to take the classical music world by storm. Don’t bet against her. Elizabeth Kerr reports

PHOTOS BY Baljit Gidwani - www.evoqueportraits.com

Violinist and vocalist Donna Lee is very serious. She’s not into pop music. She’s tried it; it’s just not her thing. But ask her about Mozart, or her main man Bach, and she gets animated. You’ll get a crash course in the basics of composition, and what on earth a minor fall and major lift is. By the same token, it’s clear that if the Year 10 Discovery College student doesn’t make it into her first post-secondary choice, The Juilliard School, she could have a future in teaching. Or criticism.

“There are so many challenges in original compositions, starting with melody. Then there’s harmony and so many rules,” she explains, rattling off which chords can go where, and cautioning on repeating notes. Second chords can have a double third, but no parallel fifths or octaves, which are hard to spot. Donna’s able to make it clear that originality isn’t simply about unconventional chord mixtures. Of course, you can do that… “But it will sound rubbish. Mozart made a joke of it. It’s so funny.” She pauses. “I could talk about his for ages.” Donna also has a sense of humour way more highbrow than many of us.

If that makes her sound like the villain from a 1980s teen comedy that’s unfair. On the cusp of 15, Donna is just a little more driven, more confident, in what she wants to do with her life than most kids her age. She’s happy to be back in a classroom, but is desperate to finish with science. “Biology. Physics. Chemistry. None of them make sense to me,” she says with a shake of her head. Math is OK – it’s at least useful – and of course, it’s music in its own way.

Teen Maestro

The middle of three girls, Donna picked up the violin bug aged five. By six, she was off to the races, placing second at her first international competition in Taiwan and setting her sights on Juilliard. “It’s a dream for now; I hope I can make it reality.”

Donna was born in Hong Kong, and relocated with her mum and sisters to DB roughly two years ago, like so many other COVID refugees seeking respite from the city. Mum Tiffany Ho is sitting on the patio at Pacific Coffee next to her daughter, itching to show off a video of her playing a Vivaldi Concerto in A minor at five. Of the move to DB she says, “I wanted a more relaxed life, and I think of this as a halfhour migration. It’s like moving to a foreign country without leaving. We have everything, a community. It’s unlike the rest of Hong Kong.”

When and if she makes it to Juilliard, Donna will be double majoring in violin and vocal, so her studies in composition and – one more – conducting will have to take a back seat. But that’s OK considering how her violin playing has matured in leaps and bounds in 10 short years, thanks in part to the opportunities to improve she’s found through supporters like her teacher, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

Senior Lecturer and renowned Sony Classical artist Gian Paolo Peloso.

Donna is the freshly minted first-prize winner of the 2022 International Music Competition ‘Paris’ Grand Prize Virtuoso, which saw her perform at Amphithéâtre Cité de la Musique Philharmonie de Paris, and third-prize winner at the second edition of the International String Competition Online

2022, where she was praised for her “fantastic and interesting musical personality.” In November, she performed at the I Love Hong Kong SAR 25th Anniversary event at the Cultural Centre, soloing with Leung Kin-fung’s Hong Kong Orchestra. She played Bach of course.

“I think the other members of the orchestra were pretty impressed,” she recalls. “After each of our short rehearsals they clapped. That felt good because these are people who ‘get it,’ and who are on a career path I hope to take.”

Back To Bach

People may ask why Donna is so into classical music at 15, and the reason may be similar to Juilliard prodigy Yo Yo Ma’s: She just is. Donna, however, has a touch of the evangelist in her. She compares the great classical composers to Shakespeare, in that too many of us think they’re inaccessible and dull when they’re not. “A lot of people think classical music is boring, and that’s so not true. Each composer has their style; there’s inspiration but no repetition. I think we need to stop assuming what classical music is, and give it a go.”

Maybe start with her personal favourite, the aforementioned Bach. An interpretation of his Partita No. 2 won Donna her most recent competitions, which represent the tip of the iceberg of her awards. In the last five years she’s placed in the top three at 10 competitions, including the Melbourne International Youth Music Competition, the 20th Osaka International Music Competition and the Charleston International Competition. Clearly she’s a natural. “Nothing in violin comes naturally,” she deadpans.

So the inevitable question: Why Bach? If Donna has trouble verbalising what appealed about the violin, she has none when discussing her love of Bach. “I started really learning Bach last year, and started with the Partita No. 2 , then then No. 1, then moved on to the concerto,” she begins, pronouncing the composer’s name with proper German flair.

“He’s known as the father of music. You don’t learn a piece for a year. You learn it for a whole life. His music is articulate and it tells a story. There are so many ways to interpret it. You don’t pour your heart out with Bach. He’s elegant and intellectual, and something you have to follow,” she says, before shouting out Paganini and Sibelius. “They can be a little more expressive.” Bottom line? “Bach’s music is just really good.”

Remember when Pharrell’s Happy was everywhere a few years back? Well, Donna has peeves too, and hearing her verbally smack them down is a pleasure. “I like Vivaldi. I think The Four Seasons is great. But because of mainstream television he’s been overplayed, and it’s been cheapened. And Flight of the Bumblebee . Oh my God…” She shakes her head,