At 12, Anastasha Suchin is already learning how many stories a violin can tell. She started playing at three and a half, and has since taken the instrument from concert stages to Singapore’s National Day celebrations, where she performed her own arrangement bringing together Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil songs. She has also stepped into composition with Rosie, a miniature horror tale written for toy piano and performed by Margaret Leng Tan.
Her latest chapter brought her to the big screen. In Singapore-led animated feature The Violinist, Anastasha performs as young Fei, recording pieces by Paganini and Mendelssohn alongside original music for the film. The experience saw her approach the violin not simply as a performer, but as the musical voice of a character whose story unfolds against the Japanese Occupation.
Music has taken on an even more personal role away from the stage. With her father currently in hospital, Anastasha sometimes plays for him at his bedside — continuing a relationship with music that began when he used to ferry her to violin lessons as a child. Speaking to Bandwagon, she reflects on composing Rosie, hearing herself in The Violinist for the first time, balancing school with music, and why making someone smile remains the reason she plays.
You started learning the violin when you were very young. What do you remember about first picking it up, and what made you want to keep playing?
When I was three and a half, Mum decided to let me start on the violin, as she plays the piano and envisioned us playing many duets in the future. So it was chosen for me, but I took to it very naturally and was glad to have had a nurturing and friendly first teacher, so that made me look forward to going for classes each week.
It probably did sound like “sawing wood” at first, but I’ve improved since then.
You’re balancing school, violin practice, performances, and your other interests at just 12 years old. What does a typical week look like for you, and how do you make time for everything?
I am tuition-free, and that gives me space to relax when I get home. Co-Curricular Activity days are long ones — I am in the String Ensemble at Tanjong Katong Girls’ School — and I get home at 7 PM several days a week.
I love playing with my 16-year-old black cat and am right now in the phase of experimenting with bakes and concocting fancy drinks. Practising has never been a strong point of mine. I should be able to say that I work on my instrument for several hours a day, but in truth, I actually don’t.
Instead, I tinker on the piano and guitar and also love to sing. Oops, I hope my violin teacher (Ye Lin) isn’t reading this! Sometimes I go thrift shopping on the weekends after visiting my father in hospital.
However, when I know there is an upcoming performance, I will definitely put in the time needed to do a good job on the day. Just like studying for an exam, I guess, but much more fun.
Last year, you performed a special National Day arrangement that brought together Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil songs. How did you choose those songs, and what did you want people to feel when they heard them together?
Not only am I biracial, I also have a lot of Indian friends. Our family’s favourite food is chicken biryani! I wanted each race to be represented in my little medley.
It was an easy choice — I simply selected my three favourite songs, one in each language, to make into one. My hope was to make everyone feel included and put a big smile in their hearts.
You also composed Rosie, which has since been performed internationally. Where did the idea for the piece come from, and what did creating your own musical story teach you that performing someone else’s music could not?
Rosie was composed in 2024, when I was 10.
I’ve always been fascinated by the beaked masks the Plague Doctors wore. When the request came in for an original composition to be performed by the legendary artist Margaret Leng Tan on toy piano at the Green-Wood Catacombs — on Halloween! — it seemed like the perfect opportunity to write music based on the imagery which the mask evoked.
The more I worked on it, the more it evolved, eventually becoming a miniature horror tale in four parts, including the actual use of the mask, among other accessories!
I felt free to create the story which I wanted, with full creative licence and no performance time limits. When performing someone else’s work, every dot and dash has to be observed to give respect to the composer’s intentions. So that would be the main difference between being a composer and a performer.
How did you first become involved with The Violinist, and what did you know about young Fei when you came on board?
My manager read the press release about the upcoming movie The Violinist earlier in 2025 and, by chance, the accompanying illustration of Fei resembled me! She reached out to the director, Mr Ervin, and composer, Mr Ricky, and things fell into place from there on!
We were told that Fei was a young Peranakan girl who was prodigious on the violin, and that this story was set during the Japanese Occupation.
My grandma was actually born in the forest while great-grandma ran away from troops in 1941. My grandpa’s father disappeared during the war, and it was tough days for grandpa growing up then too. These stories resonated with me.
It is very exciting to have been blessed with the part of young Fei and have a small role in this Singapore story. I still haven’t gotten over it yet!
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What was your role in bringing young Fei to life musically, and what was the recording process like?
Mr Ricky Ho gave me a list of pieces I had to prepare for the recording. It included the super well-known Paganini Caprice No. 24 and the opening of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. These are works which I grew up hearing great artists play so flawlessly. Pressure was high, but I knew I would give it my best!
There was also a lovely original duet to be performed by Fei and Kai, and that was really fun for us to do as a first-time collaboration with Mark Chia. We got along really well and also had the chance to meet up again later in Vienna, where we visited Haus der Musik together!
When you were playing as Fei, did you have to imagine how this particular character would sound on the violin, rather than simply playing as yourself?
I recorded Fei’s parts over two sessions — once with Mark at YST Recording Studio in August 2025 and later on, solo at HORUS Studios, where I did the Paganini and the Mendelssohn.
Mr Ricky told me to play as myself, since I was meant to sound like Fei practising and not a seasoned adult professional violinist performing. That was very helpful in making me play more naturally.
An interesting story is that I had literally just transitioned to a full-size violin the day before recording the duet. A benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous had generously sponsored my beautiful new instrument as I was outgrowing my current one.
An Italian luthier had made one for me, and it had been sent on its way some weeks before. However, due to a typo in the address, it went on a merry-go-round to several other countries before reaching Singapore a day before recording! It was very frightening, really, and we were imagining what state it would be in upon arrival. I was also wondering whose violin to borrow for the recording should it not be playable.
Thankfully, it was carefully checked and prepared for the recording immediately upon arrival and ready to make music. It was larger than my current three-quarter size, so I remember practising on it for hours the night before, trying to get used to the new size, weight, and feel. There was definitely a little anxiety there!
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What was it like watching the finished film for the first time and hearing your own playing come from a character on screen? Was there a moment that particularly stayed with you?
It was so surreal. I would never have imagined hearing my own playing in a film, and I felt nervous as the scenes approached, but I think it went well after all.
I particularly enjoyed the duet where Fei and Kai first play together after he has been secretly taking lessons with the teacher, and the comedic comment the teacher had made about her salary.
If you’re comfortable sharing, what does playing the violin for your father at his bedside mean to you, especially now that music has become such a personal form of connection for your family?
My father was the one shuttling me to and fro violin class since I was in preschool. He was always so happy to hear me practise at home, although most classical music made him yawn. Sometimes he’d give me song requests and show me the YouTube clips. Because I play by ear, he was always so thrilled to hear me replay his favourite songs on the spot.
Funny memory: I remember once when I was lazy and refused to practise that day. He made me hold the empty violin case over my head for some time! Don’t worry, it just happened once.
Now that he is in hospital, it’s time for me to do what I can for my father. Mum plays the recording of the Sunset Sonata performance for him to hear, and I play the violin for him at times by the bedside. Even if he cannot express it, I know he can hear it, as there are responsive signs from him each time.
When we are not there, we leave a mobile phone with different genres of music playing for him several hours a day — from classical music to The Beatles to old songs of P. Ramlee.
Finally, after experiencing music through competitions, major stages, arranging, composing, film, and something so personal, has your answer changed when someone asks you: “Why do you play the violin?”
The enduring reason why I play the violin is because I enjoy seeing the looks of delight on people’s faces as they hear me play live and knowing that I have made someone smile that day.
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