“It was like ‘Wow, this is Midori’s teacher, so of course I have to do this!’”

But the transition was tough for Gomyo and her mother, a single parent who uprooted her Montreal artist’s career to relocate. The move forced the pair to live “on survival mode”.

“I didn’t speak English at that point,” Gomyo says. “I had to learn this whole new language. And Juilliard itself was also an intimidating experience. The pre-college division was just filled with highly talented young kids and their very ambitious parents.

“It was also very hard on my mom. Looking back, I think we were both… just doing our best.”

For Gomyo, that meant “practising violin as much as possible: the daily routine of going to school, coming home, practising first, then doing homework close to midnight, then getting up the next day and the whole thing starts again, with Julliard pre-college on Saturdays”.

DeLay, who had credentials in child psychology as well as violin, “could see the fear. She could see that I was very shy and intimidated. I’m so grateful that she saw all those difficulties … her approach would consider those aspects”.

Under DeLay’s thoughtful nurturing, Gomyo’s hard work paid off. Aged 15 she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions award, launching her glittering soloist career.

This week, Gomyo performs Dvorak’s Violin Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a work she first performed aged 11 “because Midori had released a CD of it around that time – I used to collect her CDs. So I just absolutely fell in love with that piece.

‘Whenever the horns or the woodwinds are playing I can’t help but imagine being in a forest and hearing birds’

Karen Gomyo

“It has such an emotional journey… you have this very dramatic first movement… Then you have this gorgeous second movement. Whenever the horns or the woodwinds are playing I can’t help but imagine being in a forest and hearing birds. And then you’ve got this wonderful, joyous last movement.”

Gomyo is philosophical about being a concert violinist in the TikTok era. “Music performed in a concert hall can be such a beautiful experience the more the listener is actively listening.”

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Some audience members get distracted “because they want to maybe film a bit of the concert and post it somewhere. And that’s all fine. But I think there is such a beauty to putting the phone aside and really being present in the moment with the music.”

Karen Gomyo performs with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, September 14 and 15, at Sydney Opera House.