Young violinist Sayaka Shoji was drawn to music through pure love for its sound. In pursuing a calling as a musician, she surprised the world with her talent.

Shoji performs Respighi’s rarely heard “Concerto Gregoriano” with the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra this weekend.

When she was 4, her father’s job took her family to Italy, where she was exposed to the beautiful vocal music of that country.

“I liked to sing, but I had a very low voice,” she said. “My voice was broken since I was born, so everybody told me I had very little chance to be an opera singer. Then I heard the violin and I thought it was great that a violin can sing.”

The rest was history, though there was a lot of hard work involved.

Challenged by her parents at age 11 to win a competition or stop playing — they wanted her to become a doctor or a lawyer — she won the first competition she entered, playing on a three-quarter-sized violin against other players on full-sized instruments.

“Everybody was surprised, even my teacher, because they didn’t think I was serious,” she said. “But suddenly, on stage, I was inspired.”

Just a few years later, Shoji would win the prestigious Paganini Competition in 1999, a competition so rigorous that first prize has not even been awarded 16 times in the competition’s 52-year history. Not only that, she was the youngest winner ever, a 16-year-old competing against adults, and the first from Japan.

Now 34, she’s gone on to an established career, performing mostly in Europe from her home base in Paris, where the depth and thoughtfulness of her interpretations have made her a favorite. “Sayaka Shoji played with such intensity that the audience was on the verge of losing its breath,” said the German paper Die Tageszeitung in a review of her performance of Bach. “The grandest moments took place in the softest passages. How full of energy the quietest moments can be!”

Accomplished as Shoji is, she continues to grow in her musicality.

In 2014, she toured Japan with pianist Menahem Pressler, one of the great chamber musicians of the day and a specialist in German music. Pressler helped with her ensemble playing and showed her how to meld the sound of multiple instruments into one, like having a conversation.

“Every piece, new or old, before or after Menahem, has changed for me,” Shoji said, calling the experience “intense.”

Her skill in melding instrumental sounds should come in handy for her performance of the “Concerto Gregoriano,” which Shoji will be performing for the first time ever here. The work, inspired by Gregorian chant and other religious music, is particularly warm and luscious, based on a soaring solo violin intertwining with the orchestra.

“It reminds you of that medieval music,” she said. “When you listen to this, you can imagine the Roman Empire at that time. There was this movie ‘Troy.’ It reminds you kind of like that.”

The piece also provides an opportunity to show off the historic Stradivarius that Shoji tours with. Known as the Recamier, it is believed to have once been owned by Napolean Bonaparte and given to a famous courtesan of the day. Its warm, rich sound makes it perfect for works like Gregoriano.

“It’s a fantastic instrument and I’m very, very lucky to be playing it,” Shoji said. “Often when I play violin, they say it sounds like a viola. I’m sure it’s connected with my voice, because its register is so low.”

Also on the program is Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet Suite.” The work, adapted from the famous ballet, contains some of the most familiar melodies in the repertoire, from a bombastic, dissonant opening that represents the clashing families to the sweet music representing the young Juliet. Ken Lam, who has conducted symphonies in Baltimore; Charleston, S.C.; Cincinnati; and Hong Kong, brings an impressive resume to the podium.