He also played in Yong'an city in East China's Fujian province, where the Fujian Academy of Music was founded in 1940. A decade later it was merged with the Shanghai Conservatory, where Chu's father once worked.

"He used to talk a lot about his life, but I didn't pay much attention. Thankfully, I have a good memory and at certain times, memories (of my childhood) come back to me," Chu says of his late father.

On his way back to Beijing from Yong'an, Chu felt sad and fell sick.

The last time he had fever was 20 years ago, around the time his father died, he says.

Chu recalls that, when he was 10, he had sneaked into a dark cinema right before he was to give a solo recital in Beijing.

"My father looked for me in the theater. When he finally found me, he was so angry that he beat me," Chu says.

Although his musical talent had been discovered at a young age, and he'd won many prizes at international cello competitions, too, Chu says that as a boy, he wasn't really fond of music. He loved sports, mathematics and science more.

"I guess my relationship with music comes from within. I am eager to express. It's a psychological thing," he says.

Despite his tight schedule, the cellist enjoys a lot of personal space and gives himself much time for "random thinking", as he calls it.

"I always think that life is a marathon without an end. Only two kinds of people will do it: fools and artists. I'm lucky because I am still running."

If you go

Feb 20-21. Concert hall, China National Library, 33 Zhongguancun South Street, Haidian district, Beijing. 010-8215-0617.