Anyone experiencing Nikki Chooi's inspirational Scottish Fantasy with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra last week will need little persuasion to give the Canadian violinist's Monday recital top priority.
For Chooi, being back in Auckland's Town Hall inevitably brings back memories of that week last June that saw him carry off top honours in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition.
It was not his first time in that venue. "Back in 2007 I didn't even make it into the Auckland semi-finals. I was only in high school back then," he laughs. "I was 17, and it was one of my first attempts at an international competition. It really opened my eyes to so many talented musicians who had come from all around the world."
Monday's recital, with pianist Stephen De Pledge and cellist Ashley Brown, is the halfway point in Chamber Music New Zealand's Winner's Tour -- a gruelling 14 concerts in just over a month, spanning from Auckland to Invercargill.
The programme features two classic sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven, both in the key of E flat. There is also Ravel's gypsy showpiece, Tzigane, and he will be joining De Pledge and Brown in the Smetana G minor.
But it is Jack Body's unaccompanied Caravan, especially commissioned by the competition as a test piece, that presented the greatest challenge for the violinist. "When I first got the music, it was as if this piece had been written in a completely different language from what I'd been trained in," Chooi explains.
"Luckily, one of my teachers at Juilliard is Persian and he helped me with it. I listened to recordings of traditional music and checked out some clips on YouTube which made me more familiar with what was expected of me."
Not surprisingly, Chooi's Michael Hill success has paid off. In May he was invited to Russia to take part in the celebrated Olympus Festival, along with others who had won international competitions around the world. The audience was enthusiastic when he played the Bruch G minor Concerto with the St Petersburg State Symphony, "but if I'd shown up with a Russian piece they might have judged me much harder," adds the self-effacing Canadian.
Just days before, the same concerto was on the bill when he debuted with the Malaysian Philharmonic in Kuala Lumpur, together with Bach's D minor Double Concerto which he played alongside his violinist brother, Timothy.
"We played our first duo together two years ago at my Curtis graduation recital. We have a very special relationship and are always looking to each other for advice. Any time I want to check something in my playing, I'll have him listen to it; we're very supportive of each other."
Otherwise, Chooi depends on the wisdom of the experienced and he quotes the advice of Japanese pianist Mitsuko Uchida: "Keep refining your playing, follow your instincts and play beautiful; you will eventually be recognised and appreciated whether it's in five years or 50 years."
Another inspiration for the young musician is his 1701 Stradivarius violin, on loan from the Canada Council. It is clear there is a deep relationship between man and instrument.
"My violin has lived through 314 years," Chooi muses. "I'm only 25. Every time I pick it up and play, I learn a little more about it. It has a gorgeous tone, especially in the high register. It helps me to project my music out into the hall. It has so many possibilities of colour; so many, in fact, that you have to keep searching every day."
What: Nikki Chooi -- Winner's Tour
Where and when: Auckland Town Hall, Monday at 8pm