Vivienne's passion for music began at a young age when she started playing the piano at just three years old. She quickly developed a love for the violin and achieved a Distinction at the grade 8 ABRSM examinations after only two years of classes. Despite being offered a scholarship to study the violin at the University of Manchester, Vivienne chose to pursue her ambition of becoming a lawyer.
However, her love for performing the violin never waned. She played in various orchestras and chamber ensembles, and even had the opportunity to perform for the former Singapore President, the late SR Nathan. Vivienne continued to hone her skills with the violin under the tutelage of Philip Gallaway of Warwick University while studying law in England.
After being called to the Bar in Singapore, Vivienne practiced as a lawyer but found it difficult to balance her legal work with her passion for teaching and practicing the violin. In 2006, she made the decision to pursue music as her focus.
In 2010, she was accepted to understudy Professor Zhao Weijian (赵惟俭). He was one of the the founding members whose roles include being the Dean of Faculty of Strings/Secretary General/Chief of Examinations of the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing (Notable alumni Ning Feng, Lang Lang and Yuja Wang and at some point, Vanessa-Mae)
Professor Zhao was handpicked during the Soviet regime by the Chinese Government to study in Romania in the 1950s. He graduated from the National University of Music Bucharest as a performing Artiste as well as a degree in Russian studies. He was under extremely strict learning regime from Barabet Avakian in Romania (under the same teacher is his classmate violinist Daniel Podlovski). It was with this intensity and strictness he developed a Violin Method in a Class of his own. All music syllabus for any musical instrument that is examined in the People’s Republic of China is vetted by him, he has a vast musical knowledge and is an author of numerous best selling music books and curriculum centered around the violin. Under his mentoring, Vivienne has learnt a tremendously about both performing and teaching the violin effectively.
After completing her exam preparations for the Fellowship of the Royal School of Music in violin performance with Professor Zhao, as she loves to write, she has taken up a project on co-authoring with him a comprehensive manual for learning the Violin entitled “All About the Violin Volumes 1 & 2” in the English Language which encapsulates her methodology of teaching and learning the violin efficiently and effectively.
In the past 20 over years of teaching (since 1996) she has developed an effective and efficient methodology that has seen through countless of students playing for concerts, examinations and competitions across Singapore, United Kingdom and Europe, Beijing, Slovenia and New York, Carnegie Hall. She specializes at training very young children and the youngest to have attained a Grade 8 Distinction was at 7 years old in 2018 in a live face to face examination. She has nurtured numerous students winning anually, multiple Competitions across the globe. In the past 5 years from when Belcanto Violins Studio started in 2018, she has nurtured and sent a total of 6 young competition winners to Carnegie Hall to perform.
Within a span of 18 months (from June 2022 to the end of 2023), Belcanto Violins Music Studio had attained more than 50 International Competition Wins and staged and participated more than 20 performances in this period. It is the rhythm of the whole studio driven by Vivienne which keeps the students motivated and passionate in their learning journey. Every student has the opportunity to perform and we also are looking forward to the upcoming 3 sessions of Violin Music Day Camps in 2024 where students would be taught to set up instruments and learn to enhance their performance skills further.
She frequently performs and collaborates with others as much as opportunity permits. She also encourages all her own students to do the same to make music that has been taught in the classroom relevant in society.
As part of the learning journey as a musician, Belcanto Violins Music Studio will endeavor to nurture each student similarly with a certain merit, as only alumni and current students with a minimum of 2 years of training under Prinicipal Vivienne Eio are teachers at the Studio. She has now expanded her studio to include Piano, Theory and other string Lessons, Viola and Cello to be also taught in the same professional level as herself under Belcanto Violins Music Studio by Partnering Teachers.
Welcome to our online store!
Belcanto Violins is a Singaporean brand that was established in 2015 by our Principal, Vivienne Eio. With over 30 years of experience in music as a student, teacher, performer, and instrument specialist, Vivienne founded Belcanto Violins with the aim of providing high-quality instruments at competitive and affordable prices to Singapore, Southeast Asia, and the rest of the world.
We use only the finest European-sourced materials, including organically sourced tonewoods like maple, spruce, ebony, walnut, and rosewood, as well as the highest quality glues and varnish. Our bows are made with woods from sustainable Brazilian farms, and the horsehair on our bows is sourced from humanely run farms in Mongolia. Each instrument is constructed at our boutique workshop and individually tuned and tested by Vivienne herself in Singapore before being packaged for sale.
At Belcanto Violins, we guarantee the distinct crisp and expressive signature tone quality of each violin model, as heard in our audio samples. These recordings are a testament to the readiness of our instruments to meet the challenges of the present digital age of recording examinations, competitions, and performances over a media stream.
We pride ourselves not only on the excellent quality of our instruments but also on our before and after customer service process. Our experienced customer service team is always on hand to help you find an instrument that meets your needs, whether you're looking for an instrument for your child just starting to learn or a full-size instrument for a musician getting reacquainted with their voice.
In addition to our instruments, we offer a full range of accessories to assist every musician with their instrument needs, including ergonomically designed chinrests guaranteed to give the best playing postures, instrument care kits, shoulder rests, our own exclusive chin-pad designs, rosins, musical stands, and a wide range of strings. These accessories are sourced from Europe, the United States, and Asia to deliver quality at a reliable price.
As an online store, we are able to keep our prices manageable, making it easier for you to invest in a high-quality instrument.
Please contact us for sponsorships or events.
Belcanto is the name of an Italian style of singing that was popular in late 17th century; at Belcanto Violins, we hope to help you unlock your violin singing voice.
---We teach, We learn, We love---
