During spring break in last semester, I went to Lafayette, Louisiana to visit my uncle-in-law Joe while my aunt has gone to China to visit my grandma. Before I left IU, uncle Joe told me he is going to introduce me to Xiaolu Li, a famous Chinese-America conductor.
I never heard about Xiaolu Li’s name in the past.
Li was born 1958 in a musician family in Shanghai. Li left home at age 14 to become a violinist in the Chinese National Orchestra and in 1980 joined Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. In 1983, he attended Cleveland Institute of Music with full scholarship. His mentor was David Cerone, the chair of the String Department and lifetime Professor. Li has since gained a reputation in America as an orchestra conductor of Bangor Symphony Orchestra at Maine; Acadiana Symphony at Louisiana; and Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra. At Connecticut. Li has been honored by the Kennedy Center for a special Outstanding Artist award in 1988.
I was always curious: How would a famous person look like in private? How and what would they talk about with friends?
At the second day of my visit uncle Joe brought me to the house of a couple that is good friends of my uncle and aunt. That is where I met Mr. Xiaolu Li. The household husband’s name is Mickey; his wife Jessica is a beautiful lady from Shanghai. After 20 minutes of waiting, Mr. Xiaolu Li and his wife Yang Yang, another violist, arrived at the house.
Li entered the door with a cigar in his left hand. He hugged uncle Joe and Mickey, said with his blooming voice, “How are you my brother!” He kissed Jessica and said: “I could smell your delicious cooking from another side of the road!” Then he crossed the room and showed me his big hand and said, “Nice to meet you young lady, Joe always talk about you - his favorite niece!” I smiled and shook his hand said, “Nice to meet you, Mr. Li.” All the guests now had arrived at the house, so Jessica gave us a tour of her well-decorated house. After the tour, we stared eating dinner.
Now I have an opportunity to see the man of legend face to face. Li is a plump 55-year-old man. His hair looks perfect, so is his suit. His voice is deep and a little bit hoarse. His either has a cigar or his cell phone in his hand all the time. He lives with his wife and two daughters. He now works in international business trading, mediating among Chinese and American companies. He is running a gallery in downtown Lafayette and it is where he holds small business meetings.
The entire dinner, we were all listening to Li’s story of how he is going to build a new huge business in Lafayette with his business partners from China; how he had won thousands of dollars in the casino last week; how he and his wife make a perfect couple; the rest of time he was complementing people at the table. Yang Yang was sitting quietly and looking at her husband with a smile. Li did take a rest in this dinner. He took three phone calls from his business partners.
When we got home after dinner, I asked uncle Joe, “Is Mr. Li always like that?” Uncle Joe said yes, he loves people putting attention on him, that might have come from his job as a conductor, and he makes people to think in that way: “Look, Li knows everybody, anybody famous or important in China is a friend of Li.”
The truth is Mr. Li does know that many people. Even the former president of China, Mr. Jiang Zemin had a dinner with Mr. Li because of his achievement in conducting. Mr. Li proved it by showing me a magazine article he keeps in his gallery another day. I guess he had shown a lot of people this article.
Before I came back to school, Li invited me to his gallery in downtown Lafayette. He told me about his story when he just arrived America. He had no money in his pocket so he went to a dock and worked as a mover. He earned little money from that job which could barely feed him. At the same time he practiced hard as a music student.
Li encouraged me to study hard and be a tough woman, keep dong what I do good. He said there is a lot of opportunities for young people in America and do not miss any chance. He made a promise that he would find me a job to work in the government media system of Lafayette. I was so surprised and thankful. But before I left Lafayette my aunt told me on the phone that although Li is a nice man with no doubt and he likes helping people in his convenient, but he always forgot what he had promised in the next second.
My first time meeting a famous person so privately was ended funny and surprising this spring break. Famous people are like normal people. In private, they make jokes and say dirty words; they need love and attention from family members and friends, or even more attention from any people around them. Li made me believe that your passion can be your career, and do not do a job you have no interest at. I hope I can become a person like him, a person spends his whole life in something he loves and a person with no regret in his eyes when he got old.