French cellist Philippe Muller. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Raised in French and German musical traditions, Muller has been teaching at prominent conservatories including the Conservatoire de Paris and Manhattan School of Music in New York. Leading a career that spans many continents, he appears regularly on the major stages of Europe, America and Asia.

As an educator, Muller has taught an impressive number of young cellists, many of whom already have remarkable careers of their own. Lim, one of his pupils, is now a professor at the CCOM and holds many concerts both in China and abroad. This performance will be the first time they play together.

They are very looking forward to performing and communicating with Chinese music lovers. "For an audience, you share. Compared with playing alone, it's much more exciting to play in front of an audience," Muller said.

As many Chinese youngsters start learning classical music, their relationship with the music can be livelier than their European counterparts. "In Asia, the interest for classical music is more recent. The audience is a little bit younger and fresher. In Western Europe, it's a very old tradition. Maybe audiences can be more enthusiastic here," Muller said.