Striking a chord

The Wuxi stop of his tour turned out to be major success, so much because Kim enchanted the audience of some 500 with his marvelous mastery of the instrument in a two-hour feast for the ears.

"It's quite worth it. He's got such an expressive tone. He gave us a fantastic solo tonight," said Du Jiehua, a 40-something accountant and music lover.

As much as Kim is satisfied with his personal achievement, he frets about the shrinking fanbase for classical music in North America these days. The teacher at Mannes College of Music New York attributes the predicament to the general decline in educational and cultural awareness and values.

"Classical music is in danger of shrinking," he said.

"In America, younger children's exposure to classical music is not enough. In Paris if you walk down a street you'll hear Mozart. But you don't get that in New York, maybe only in some fancy café. "

Compared with the US market, the relatively nascent Chinese market is showing every sign of being robust, especially when it comes to teaching music. At least 40 million Chinese children play the piano alone, according to Gramophone, the influential London-based music magazine in March, concluding that China holds the key to the future of classical music.

That sentiment is echoed by Chinese musical cognoscenti.

"More and more families let their children study classical music," said Cui Jianbin, director of operations at Wuxi Grand Theater.

"And an increasing number of world-class symphony orchestras and musicians come to China every year, which will make it the largest market for classical music," Cui added.

That delightfully evident phenomenon has not been lost on Kim.

"In the US most of the audience has grey hair; here is China I've seen a lot of children, which is a very good sign," he said.

"Many people think you have to know something about classical music to appreciate it and that's false information. You don't have to know anything about it. Just come and feel it."