Rising Stars: Meet Yu-Wei Hsiao

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yu-Wei Hsiao.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am Yu-Wei Hsiao a.k.a Yoyo Hsiao and am from Taiwan. I received my doctorate in violin performance at Rutgers University and currently a violinist of Berkshire Opera Festival. Besides violin, I am also a pianist, dancer, educator and composer.

Having grown up in a family-run private music school in Taiwan, I developed a natural affinity for musical performance and teaching. I started both piano and violin training since I was five. Along the way, I started to learn hip-hop dancing when I was a freshman in the university. Dance training and performance really help me overcome stage fright as a musician. What is more, dance has become one of the important materials of my musical performance.

I had spent one year in the military band in Taiwan to fulfill the requirement of my country before coming to the United States. Other than being a violinist to play in concerts for the military, I was also asked to learn clarinet for participating in duties like ceremonies and marches.

I also have a passion in teaching. In my teaching, I not only improve students’ weaknesses but also identifies and amplifies their strengths, guiding students at their own pace. Aside from teaching piano/violin to all ages, I also help preschoolers learning mandarin through music at multiple schools in NYC.

In addition to my experience with classical violin/piano and educating students, my crossover abilities have led me to featured performances with a variety of artists in such groups/shows as the Weill Cornell Jazz Band, Battery Dance, the Taiwanese television program “Super Taste”, Taiwanese singer A-Lin ’s world concert tour, New York Fashion Week Fashion Show, Booking Dance Festival NYC at the Apple Room at Lincoln Center, and Gallery Players; in such ceremonies as LuminoCity Festival at Randall’s Island – opening ceremony, and Empty Sky Memorial Remembrance for 9/11, among many others. Dr. Hsiao was also a resident artist at Culture Lab LIC and a co-producer of the Taiwanese show “Islanders”.

As I mentioned before, I have merged dance into my musical performance with my friend Chieh Hsiung since the pandemic. We create dialogue through dance movements and the violin. Chieh creates choreography through my violin movements while I dance and play violin at the same time. Our pieces have exposed in iHeart Radio Broadway Week in Bryant Park, Queensboro Dance Festival, Queens Theater, and the New Queens Pride.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
As a non-native English speaker, communication was a challenge when I first got here. It took me around 2 to 3 years to get used to English speaking during rehearsals. English writing hasn’t been a big concern until I was in the doctoral degree. Just like many other international music students, my English vocabularies and grammar are not good enough for the academic writing. The first draft of my thesis came back every line red from my professor. I felt extremely upset and didn’t know what to do at the time. Luckily, I found a writing specialist who were willing to help me go through all my thesis words to words. The writing training at school did help me be more confident in writing such as applying for art funds.

Sharing my thoughts have been another challenge. When I was still pursuing my degrees at Mannes School of Music and Rutgers University, I was deeply impressed by my American classmates about how fearlessly they were able to share their thoughts during rehearsals and classes. American education is known for not afraid of sharing any thoughts and feelings. I definitely didn’t have this ability at first. I come from a country, Taiwan, where people normally don’t reveal their thoughts, so I was too used to stayed silent. After millions of observations of my classmates and colleagues, I have learned how to say my thoughts out loud.

Playing violin and dancing at once is another challenge. Standing or sitting still has been a tradition for violin performance since violin was invented. As a violinist and a dancer, I always want to combine these two together for the whole time. However, it never happened because I was too afraid of looking funky. Gladly, my dancer friend Chieh Hsiung was the one suggested this idea when we first collaborate. My career of dancing while playing violin started since this.

Composing and arranging music without a good laptop, software and all the recording facilities is another difficulty I have been struggling with. I have been a performer but not a composer before 2018. Not like a full-time composer, I don’t have good tools to assist my composing and arranging music. I am just like many other artists, have been struggling with the finance. By that means I can’t upgrade everything currently even I want to. Not having good tools really waste so much of my time.

Busking at a parks is definitely worth a mention. I go busking every summer in Central Park. It’s not easy to be on the street alone. I can’t pee during my performance session. The weather is extremely hot even under the shadow. I also have to deal with drunk and high people when they stop by. Also, my tip was taken away once by a homeless right in front of me and was so afraid of fighting it back. Another thing is that I have to fight for the spots with other artists. Bad spot leads to a less exposure and tips. Some spots are popular, so arguments happen sometimes. I did once have arguments with another musician because he thought I was too close to him and was too loud. Next, I was kicked out by Washington Square Park once because I didn’t follow a regulation that I didn’t know at the time. Last but not the least, the performance anxiety is different from performing on the stage. People on the street react and respond very directly. Every time seeing less people sitting on the park benches let me rethink if I chose the music wrongly or it doesn’t sound good.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am known for being a creative violinist. Here are three pieces I am really proud of: 1. Islanders 2. The Storyteller and the Dancing Girl 3. Intersection

1. I am super proud of the show my friend Chieh Hsiung and I co-produced in 2022 in NYC. It’s a dance musical show called “Islanders”, which was based in Taiwanese culture. In this show, I arranged 13 Taiwanese folk songs into western styles and was one of the dancers.

As a doctor in the performing arts, I truly love classical music.  However, it’s strongly rooted from European culture.  I started to look back to Taiwanese musical history during the creative process of the show. Historically, many artists wrote and created masterpieces after their search of their roots be they cultural and/or hereditary.  So it’s no surprise to know that I indeed feel more connected with Taiwan since the last show.

Since our last show, we have acquired a surprisingly sizable fan base.  I believe by creating more of this show, it will help reach more people in the growing Taiwanese communities in the U.S., also those interested in Taiwanese culture.

2. My original composition for aerialists. I have collaborated with many dancers, but I didn’t use my original composition mostly. In the pole dance show “HUE” in Taiwan, I composed the piece “The Storyteller and the Dancing Girl”, a violin fantasy for my pole dancer friend Shu-Ching Yu, and interacted with her on the stage. At the ending, she hung me in the air while she was upside down and holding the pole through her legs while I was playing violin. This was a big breakthrough in violin performance definitely. This violin fantasy was premiered at Culture Lab LIC Fall Fest with aerialist Noelia Antweiler.

3. “Intersection” – my first original composition. As a dance music lover, I always want to play dance music through violin. My friends have been encouraged me to do something with dance music on violin, so I decided to give it a try while two of my hip-hop dancer friends from Taiwan were visiting NYC in 2018. This is a piece I combine R&B style and classical musical form for violin. I firstly made a video as a souvenir of our reunion with my demo of “Intersection” in order to remember our time together in NYC, and then I finished the whole piece and music video in 2019. This piece was premiered in a show hosted by Drye/Marinaro Dance Company in 2019 and then was performed again in an event hosted by Museum of Chinese in America in 2022.

I am the violinist who keeps staying out of my comfort zone to try and experimental different things. This makes me a unique violinist.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Don’t be afraid of making your imagination come true. I concern a lot before trying out a new idea. However, many of NYC artists makes me realize a work is not finished or still in progress can already be loved by audiences. If this is not the case, friends and some audience will offer good advices of how to adjust it or why they disliked it. As an artist, listening to feedbacks and adjusting to it are very important. Feedback only forms after we have done some thing first.

Also, be brave to request for what you need for a new piece/work. If you don’t ask, then it won’t never happen.

Last but not the least, be patient to fix and insert details of a piece. I love to create and insert some little things that majority of the audience won’t notice. There are always people who can notice those little details and will come to appreciate you doing that. They might be the next collaborator, might invite you to the next gig, or might be your sponsor.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hsiaoyoyoyo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funkyviolinistyoyo/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX1WUIq6RJXuBABb9IakksQ

Image Credits
Photos by: Reiko Yoo Yanagi, June Pailla, Pratya Jankong, Grant Hao-Wei Lin, Queesboro Dance Festival