news.discovery.com Kyung Wha-Chung found immediate success after graduating from Juilliard School of Music in the sixties. However, the Korean violin virtuoso lost the use of her left index finger in 2005. It is thought that an overdose of the steroid cortisone, used to treat swelling, caused the finger to weaken. During a rehearsal, her finger collapsed and she could no longer play. This brought an end to her successful touring career because she could no longer form notes on the violin strings.
Most of us would give up, blaming a stroke of fate, before looking around for another career. But not Kyung Wha-Chung. The 66 year-old spent the past 10 years playing an imaginary violin and matched that with years of therapy, which she credits with keeping her on form and ready to perform again.
"For instance, after coming out of five years of not playing, and then to do the six unaccompanied Bach (sonatas and partitas), after not having played...I worked it out all in my head...with every possibility of bowing and so on," she told Reuters.
The extraordinary virtuoso will play her first London recital in a decade next month at the Royal Festival Hall.
And the upside which came from her inability: She feels free and light, relieved of excess baggage which was nowhere near as important than keeping her challenge in mind. She wanted to perform again. See full story at the Telegraph.
After hearing about Chung's success, I really believe I can do whatever I believe is right and good. I'll go on living as long as my husband needs me. I'll keep writing no matter how old I get. And most of all, I'll refuse to worry about my lack of attainment. How about you?
Most of us would give up, blaming a stroke of fate, before looking around for another career. But not Kyung Wha-Chung. The 66 year-old spent the past 10 years playing an imaginary violin and matched that with years of therapy, which she credits with keeping her on form and ready to perform again.
"For instance, after coming out of five years of not playing, and then to do the six unaccompanied Bach (sonatas and partitas), after not having played...I worked it out all in my head...with every possibility of bowing and so on," she told Reuters.
The extraordinary virtuoso will play her first London recital in a decade next month at the Royal Festival Hall.
And the upside which came from her inability: She feels free and light, relieved of excess baggage which was nowhere near as important than keeping her challenge in mind. She wanted to perform again. See full story at the Telegraph.
After hearing about Chung's success, I really believe I can do whatever I believe is right and good. I'll go on living as long as my husband needs me. I'll keep writing no matter how old I get. And most of all, I'll refuse to worry about my lack of attainment. How about you?
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