A new classical Vanessa-Mae

SINGAPORE, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Vanessa-Mae has successfully made the transformation from child prodigy to adulthood, but now after nearly 13 years in the music business, she is ready for changes. Having pioneered the "techno-classic" fusion sound, the world-renowned violinist is ready to make a U-turn in her career, separating her classical and pop career.

It's all about not keeping it "formulaic and repetitive," the stunning 23-year-old says.

"I know it's a bit confusing. In the past, I've mixed classical and pop, but now I want to separate them," she told United Press International in an interview. "I'm now at a point where I'm getting experienced at this all techno-fusion thing, and I want to break that all down and do something that's new for me. I want to continue to challenge myself and the people I work with, and I don't want anybody to play safe with my career."

The gifted violinist -- who confesses that she can sometimes go a whole month without touching her instrument and needed little practice as a child -- is planning to start recording a new purely classical album this winter, with a view to releasing it next fall.

"I'm going to go romantic with Tchaikovsky, and probably other Russian composers," she says, adding that she still doesn't know with which orchestra she will record. But Vanessa-Mae's fans can expect her to retain her rebel streak with her own innovative interpretation of the classics. "I've been spoiled as an artist, allowed to do what ever I want. So what ever I do with classical, I don't want to just return to the notes that where written by the composer. I want always to inject a bit of creativity into it."

"If you get accused of bastardizing the composer, well for me I don't see that. Because the ultimate compliment is performing that composer's music, and if you want to inject something a bit different, as in your own cadenza or your own arrangement, then that's what's I'm going to do," she says, smiling.

And she will not abandon her pop career, with plans for a pop album after the release of the classical one.

Classical music was her first love, says Vanessa-Mae, confessing a fondness for Beethoven and Bruch. The Singapore-born virtuoso first started on a violin when she was 5 years old after moving to London, where she still lives. Three years later, she packed her bags for the National Conservatoire of Music in Beijing for an intensive period of study, before returning to London and the Royal College of Music.

The sylphid-like artist recalls being "guided a lot" as a child.

"At the end of the day, I enjoyed the hard work, perversely enough," she says. "I enjoyed the fact that I was sacrificing playtime, for something that was ultimately giving me a little pleasure. So I knew there was a bit of pain."

She feels she may have missed "time" as a child, leaving behind a "carefree life," but quickly adds, "I took a different route from other people. It was a little bit frustrating that I couldn't just be a child. But I made the decision."

Between the ages of 11 and 13, she recorded three classical albums, but she became a world-famous artist with her debut pop album in 1995, creating a new type of fusion, cross-over between classical and pop.

At that time, her two idols were pop superstar Michael Jackson and Russian classical violinist Jascha Heifitz.

"With that kind of personality, my management thought it would be possible to fuse those things into a new sounds. And I was up for it," she says. "When you're young, you're not afraid of anything. I was looking forward to get hold of an electronic violin and see what I could do with it. The idea was sold to the record company, and they were very supportive of the new idea."

Since then, many other artists have followed in her footsteps.