In just one year, professional cellist Li-Wei found himself going from having a nice apartment in London and driving luxurious cars, to living in a small place and desperately having to find new owners for his cars. The nature of his job meant that he lacked the assurance of having a steady stream of income, and his  sense of job security lasted only as long as the novelty of a newly-crowned champion did. “Many orchestras in Europe offered opportunities to work for them, but little did I realise they were just opportunities offered for the prize winner of that competition. So after that initial one great season, they were looking for the winner of the next competition,” he says. But having that reality hit him at the prime of his youth — Li-Wei was only in his early twenties when he went from having 60 concerts lined up in one year to just 15 the next — also taught him the...