Vanessa Mae

Violinist, Classical, Classical Crossover, Pop, Instrumental, Violin, Female, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s

The beautiful young violinist Vanessa-Mae was just in her mid-teens when she shattered the mold of the classical virtuoso with the release of her first fusion album The Violin Player, forging a new style that has made her a multi-million-selling worldwide phenomenon and the breakthrough artist who virtually defined the fusion of classical and pop that became known as crossover. At the age of 25, she has been a superstar for a decade. Now she makes her Sony Classical debut and marks a new musical direction with the release of Choreography, a highly original album that celebrates dance rhythms from around the world. Original pieces and fresh arrangements have been created for the album by the Oscar-winning Vangelis, Bill Whelan of Riverdance, Indian film composer A.R. Rahman (the musical Bombay Dreams) and Tolga Kashif (The Queen Symphony), amongst others. Choreography will be released internationally in September 2004 and in the U.S. in early 2005.

Vanessa-Mae brings to this project the experience of a classical violin prodigy who was well into a major international concert career when she was barely in her teens. The success of The Violin Player justified a bold creative gamble she wanted to take - a new synthesis of classical and pop sounds that would tap a broad and enthusiastic international audience as surely as it would raise the hackles of tradition-bound classical critics. The albums that followed confirmed this success - worldwide sales have topped 8 million units so far, earning more than 40 international platinum awards - making her a superstar for whom there seem to be no musical limits. Vanessa-Mae has collaborated with such pop legends as Janet Jackson and Prince, performed on the soundtrack of the Disney animated feature Mulan, played Bach for the British Royal Family on the 250th anniversary of the composer's death, fiddled as she modeled a wedding dress on the runway of a Jean-Paul Gualtier fashion show in Paris, and reached out to the children of the South African township of Soweto, the first international artist to be invited to its music school. Her stunning presence only adds to her appeal. People magazine has voted Vanessa-Mae one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World," and FHM named her one of "The World's 100 Most Beautiful Women."