Emily Sun

Documentary Mrs Carey's Concert, about the outstanding music programme at the MLC School in Burwood, has made an amazing $1 million at the Aussie box office. It has also made an overnight classical music celebrity of Emily Sun, the young violinist whose journey from rebellious teen to concert soloist is at the heart of the inspirational film. "It's difficult to watch what I was like back then," says Sun, now 19 and about to take up a scholarship at London's Royal Academy of Music. "I wasn't the best student. When I first saw the film I said ‘can you please take this bit out, it doesn't make me look very good.' But I realise now that people love to see that I was just a normal kid growing up." Since graduating from MLC, Sun has studied at the Sydney Conservatorium and kept in touch with the great Helen Carey by teaching at the school. She has made it through to the grand final of the ABC Young Performers Competition in Brisbane on 2 September where she'll play Tchaikovsky's fiendishly difficult Violin Concerto in D Major with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Sun is the first to admit the movie has been a tremendous leg-up: "I've been able to meet really amazing musicians like Richard Tognetti... And I've been getting recognised in the street. I'm loving it!"