Jet-setting violin student chooses Conservatory

Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2004

Fifteen-year-old Nikki Chooi spends more time in an airplane than some corporate frequent flyers. Every two weeks, he gets on a plane in his hometown of Victoria and flies to Calgary for music lessons. Yes, music lessons. Chooi studies violin at the Mount Royal College Conservatory, and he’s willing to travel more than 1,000 kilometres to get here.

“There isn’t this kind of program in Victoria. That’s why I come to Calgary,” says Chooi, who says the Conservatory provides him with great teaching, as well as the chance to learn chamber music — something he can’t do back home. “It’s hard financially but I really enjoy it.”

It also takes a bit of juggling at school — he misses two days of classes every month and often has to catch up on his Grade 9 homework on the plane.

The airfare alone costs his family $500 a month but his father says it’s worth every cent. “If what he really wants is to become a musician, and he’s willing to do his best, then I do whatever to help him,” says John Chooi.

John has taken a computer job in Florida because the pay allows him to support his family and finance his son’s musical training. The downside is that he only sees his wife and two sons once a month, and that’s difficult for all of them. “Coming home is the worst thing,” he says. “I’m happy to come home but I know I have to leave and leaving them is the hardest part.”

Nikki knows what his father is giving up and that makes him want to work hard to make sure the effort pays off. “It makes me feel like I need to try my best because my dad already sacrificed. So, if I don’t do anything, then his sacrifice is like nothing,” he says.

Nikki fell in love with the violin when he was four years old and has since become a gifted musician. He says music is his life — he practices for four hours every day and, when he comes to Calgary, he has two two-hour lessons with violin instructor Bill van der Sloot.

He has already won several competitions in Victoria, spent a week at the Juilliard School in New York and is now competing in six classes during this month’s Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival.

“I want to be a musician, a solo violinist,” he says. “I really like the violin and I really like the sound — the sound is really close to the human voice. I enjoy myself when I play.”

When he can, his father also enjoys watching him play. ”I’m very proud, he makes me happy,” says John. “Every time I see him play, there are tears in my eyes. All of my effort I put in and my wife’s sacrifice — the result is there and we’re very happy.”

Photo: Nikki Chooi performed at last October’s Feast of Sound and Song fundraiser for the Mount Royal Conservatory.

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