Saying farewell to New Zealand for a new life with celebrated cellist Julian Lloyd Webber was a gamble Jiaxin Cheng will never regret. The cello player fell in love with Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s brother Julian (60) when both were performing in New Zealand.
She was forced to sacrifice her happy life in Auckland to follow her heart to the UK – but, with baby Jasmine Orienta in her arms, she knows it was worthwhile. Jiaxin (37) is Julian’s fourth wife and despite their 23-year age difference, Julian says there are no issues – which he puts down to them both playing the cello.
“I always steered clear of musicians. That was probably a conscious choice because music is so all-consuming. But Jiaxin is such a caring person,” he told the Weekly from his home in London. Jiaxin got her music degree in Shanghai, China, in 1997, but came to New Zealand in 1999 to further her studies, which is when she first met Julian.
But it wasn’t until 2006, when Julian was here for a concert with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, that they fell in love. “She’s quite an unusual person,” says Julian. “She’s not hugely ambitious and she’s a very kind and supportive person. I could see she really loved me. It wasn’t like she had another agenda.
“It was hard to imagine that the relationship could ever really happen because we were so far away from each other,” he says. But the distance didn’t stop their feelings from growing and when Julian returned to London, he asked Jiaxin to move there.
“She made a lot of sacrifices to join me here,” Julian says. The couple married in 2009 with Andrew as the best man. Julian says he’s still very close to his brother and Jiaxin says the talented composer has welcomed her into the family.
“He’s a very nice person and we always get along very well. He’s a big star but he might even be shy sometimes.” But the pair found recording Julian’s new CD, Evening Songs, released last month, a challenge as it was the first time they had recorded together.
“It was the first time we really argued,” Julian admits. “It wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but that’s what music’s all about.” There’s almost a 20-year age difference between baby Jasmine and Julian’s son from a previous marriage, but he says becoming a father again at 59 was easier because Jiaxin has made it less stressful.
As the country where they fell in love, New Zealand is close to their hearts and they would love to return, Julian says. “I’ll always be grateful to it for bringing me to Jiaxin,” says Julian. “Our relationship has worked out so well – I couldn’t hope for it to be better.”
