b'PART2 : SHAUN LEE CHEN: A SHORT AND WINDING ROADAs a teenager at high school, Shaun Lee Chen only had two priorities:It was a bit difficult because I had a job in the orchestra and it wasnt basketball and rap music.the right time to leave, but what path I wanted to pursue with the I was terrible. I never practised, admits the concertmaster of theinstrument was still up in the airAustralian Brandenburg Orchestra and soloist in Vivaldis The Four[WASO] were so good to me. They let me go out and do things. They Seasons, coming to the Riverside in November. were really supportive of my career outside the orchestra. I was even Shaun was brought up in Perth in a musical family and learned violina 50 per cent employee for a while, which is very rare in Australian from a young age, but by his own reckoning, he wasnt an easyorchestras.student to teach. He remembers one of his first teachers, the legendaryAnd then, out of the blue, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra (ABO) Hungarian violinist Pal Eder, with affection and gratitude.came calling.He tried to set me straight but he couldnt. But he probably doesntThey approached me and said, We know you play baroque violin. Would know how influenced I was by him and how much I admired him, evenyou like to come and play with us? So I did.though I never showed it because I was, yknow, too cool. From there it all happened very fast. Artistic director Paul Dyer was Despite this rocky start, Shaun graduated from the University of Westernso impressed by Shaun that he asked him to play a concerto with the Australia with a first class degree and went straight to the Australianorchestra. After a successful tour as soloist in the fiendishly tricky first National Academy of Music. Then he again hit a bumpy stretch when heconcerto by baroque virtuoso Pietro Locatelli, he was invited to record was forced to stop playing the violin for 18 months.with the ABO, then to become concertmaster. It was an injury and a bit of a burn out situation as well. It was nobodysWhich is how he has ended up here, at Riverside, leading the ABO fault. I think I just got a little bit too enthusiastic. and performing the four concertos which make up Vivaldis evergreen It was a scary time, he recalls. I was teaching a bit, not able to playfavourite, The Four Seasons. He cant wait.much, enough to demonstrate. I gradually rehabilitated myself with theIn terms of my career, I see myself as very lucky. You can work your help of physios.butt off but youve got to be in the right place at the right time. But in the Then two unexpected things happened. First, a job in the Westernsame way, if you do work your butt off you will be in the right place at the Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) came up and he was asked toright time. audition. He did, and they offered him the gig. Second, he entered theIts been an interesting ride. Looking back, its been a weird, short ride. ABC Young Performers Competition and, much to his surprise, he won. The Four Seasons is playing at Riverside, on November 4.To be honest, I never had any sort of aspirations to win competitions. I did the competition as part of my rehabilitation.In the year following his win he juggled the WASO job with his Young Performer obligations, which included a number of solo appearances. 62'