Alex Shum, First Violin

Hong Kong; St. John's University, MN; California Institute of the Arts; Aspen; Tanglewood; Thomas Wang; Lim Kek Tjiang; Yoko Matsuda; Dorothy DeLay; Ani Kavafian; Joseph Silverstein; Leonard Bernstein.

Ten questions about me:

What is your earliest musical memory?

Two of my earliest musical memories were watching Yehudi Menuhin playing solo Bach and Neville Marriner leading the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

How did you choose your instrument?

Besides piano, I think violin was the only other musical instrument I knew of at the time!

When did you know you wanted to be a professional musician?

I entertained the thought of it when I was around 10 years old.

What is your favorite thing about performing music?

When I am in sync with the audience

What is the most challenging work for your instrument?

Arnold Schöenberg's Fantasy

Other than your Kansas City Symphony concerts, where else can audiences catch you performing in town?

Perhaps at a wedding venue

What songs/albums are in your iPod/MP3 Player/CD Player right now?

Tomasso Albinoni's Oboe Concerti

Who is your most inspiring composer?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

What is the best part about being a musician in the Kansas City Symphony?

We have the warmest and most appreciative audience

Which composer would you most like to have dinner with? And what would you serve or where would you eat?

I would like to entertain papa Haydn in my home and serve him some personally grilled KC strip.