At the tender age of 18, Zhang Aozhe, the 2025 winner of the Premio Paganini International Violin Competition’s top prize, has just made his Hong Kong debut. This should have been a major attraction, but from my observation, the seats at the City Hall Concert Hall were about half empty.Was the low attendance due to the summer holidays, or was it a case of insufficient publicity? It was difficult to tell, but the truth is that many people, including frequent concertgoers, missed a show that deserved more appreciation than it received from a small audience that included many children.Zhang was born in Hefei, in China’s Anhui province, in 2008, and recorded his first solo album at 14.His wins at the 2025 Premio Paganini International Violin Competition – where he took the Gold Prize and Best Paganini Concerto Performance Prize – are his most distinguished accolades to date. Previous winners of the competition include Salvatore Accardo and Gidon Kremer.Zhang seldom made eye contact with the audience throughout the show. Photo: Hong Kong International Young Musicians Competition FoundationThe recital programme in Hong Kong was a mix of works for solo violin, sandwiched by two sonatas for piano and violin. The pianist was Xie Beini, associate professor of piano at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.The concert began with an articulate and spirited performance of Mozart’s “Sonata in A major, K. 305”. The lightness one usually expects in the first movement was missing, however; the tone was as serious as Zhang looked on stage. In fact, he seldom made eye contact with the audience throughout the show.