Fifteen, Fearless and Halfway Round the World

Xu Leyi is 15, from Guiyang, and a flute major at the Secondary School Affiliated to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She was originally destined for piano until a stern teacher frightened her into switching instruments. A gentler flute teacher sealed the deal, and she has never looked back.This summer she spent nearly a month in the United States on her own, taking masterclasses at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester and at the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s principal flutist, who also teaches at Curtis and Juilliard.She watched Brazil versus Norway at the World Cup in New York, caught an Augustin Hadelich and Seong-Jin Cho recital at Ozawa Hall in Tanglewood after a rainstorm drove the lawn audience inside for free, and improvised a duet of the New World Symphony and Danny Boy with a Harvard mathematics professor she met at a roadside motel with a grand piano in the lobby.She is also a serious aviation enthusiast who has visited the cockpits of eleven international flights, sat in the pilot’s seat, and that glasses once ruled her out of a piloting career. Her ambition is to earn a private pilot’s licence alongside her music. She reckons that during cruise altitude, there ought to be time to sneak in a few notes on the flute.This is a Chinese language programme with bilingual subtitles.Filmed and interviewed in Shanghai on August 7, 2026. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit klassikom.substack.com