Mario Jauvin's blog

I have always been fascinated, as many of you have been, by the unbelievable qualities demonstrated by true child prodigy.  One such person I have been especially fascinated by is the internationally acclaimed violinist Sarah Chang ( home page ,  @sarahchang ). There was no internet in 1986 when Sarah Chang auditioned at the tender age of 5 for Juillard playing Bruch's violin concerto.  However fortunately we can have a glimpse of what an unbelievable talent she had at this age thanks to a video of her playing around that age .  The sound and video quality is not great but it is such a fantastic historic artifact. When she had just turned 9 (I know lots say 8 but she turned 9 on December 10, 1989), Zubin Mehta then conductor of the New York Philharmonic called her up on Thursday January 11, 1990 to ask her if she would audition the next day.  After the audition he called her back to ask her if she could play the next day to replace then Concert master Gl...