I jumped straight into wanting to play big classical pieces from the first time I ever saw string instruments.

From age 3 to 12, I lived in Dubai, at a time when Western classical music barely existed there, and Western string instruments basically didn't at all. (The first violin teacher in Dubai, that I've been able to find evidence of, started teaching there less than a year before my family moved back to the US.) I took piano lessons there, but never heard a string instrument in person until I was back in the States.

Once back in the US, I had a bit of reverse culture shock. Pop culture in Dubai was about ten years behind the US at the time (this was before the internet made pop culture global) so it was like jumping straight from 1985 to 1995. I became mostly a classical and jazz listener around that time, because those genres weren't going to go in and out of style, and I discovered classical radio.

A few months after returning to the US, I had the chance to go to a symphony concert with a friend's family. That was the first time I saw string instruments in person. I still remember the entire program: Kabalevsky Overture to Colas Breugnon, Walton Viola Concerto, Beethoven Symphony No. 3. It was the Walton viola concerto that really made an impression. I decided on the spot I wanted to play the viola.

I started on violin rather than viola because there was an old violin in the family that I could get for free. (I knew by then that most violists started on violin.) My great-uncle had played the violin, and when he died years before I was born, his violin had gone to my uncle who thought he might want to learn. He never got around to it, so the violin sat on a shelf in his house for more than 20 years until he finally gave it to me. At that point, my parents started inquiring about violin lessons, but every teacher they asked said I was already too old to learn a string instrument. Eventually, after about three years of looking for a teacher and occasionally trying to play a little, I gave up on finding a teacher and started self-teaching more systematically a little before my 17th birthday.

For college I ended up going to Caltech, which has no music department, so the musical ensembles were purely recreational and not selective at all. I got into the orchestra even though I was barely a lower-intermediate learner; that was my first orchestra experience. I also played in the chamber music program as a pianist; they had three violas that were sometimes loaned to violinists to play viola parts, and about halfway through my freshman year the director of the chamber music program agreed to loan me a viola until graduation. From then on, most of my string playing was on viola. I still have my great-uncle's violin, though, and I still play it from time to time, usually when my viola is in the shop for maintenance.

Just in case anyone's curious, here are the other two pieces that were played at the concert that first inspired me to learn strings:

GregW said
@AndrewH thanks for sharing the videos.  I got to watching the page turning going on about halfway through the Kabalevsky and couldn't help but wonder...have you ever had a situation where either you or the page turner knocks the music off? my twisted brain I guess.. Thats something Id probably do..   That's a dream having a family instrument passed down like that.  I'm thinking that one would be the favorite.

As time went on were you able to play these in any of the concerts youve been a part of?

  

I played in the orchestra viola section for the Walton concerto in April 2018, with San Francisco Symphony principal violist Jonathan Vinocour as soloist. It's the only time I've ever been on stage with someone who is arguably top-50 in the world on his instrument. I'm also in the middle of learning the solo part, though progress has been interrupted by injury.

I've also performed all nine Beethoven symphonies now (this one in September 2014). Have not yet had a chance to play the Kabalevsky.

About page turning: the convention in orchestral string playing is for two people to share a stand, and the "inside" player (the one farther from the audience) turns the page while the "outside" player continues playing. If there isn't a long rest, the section may try to stagger page turns a little, with some outside players memorizing a little before the page turn so the page can be turned early, and some memorizing a little after the page turn so that the page can be turned late. I've had the music knocked off the stand a couple times in rehearsals, never in a concert. My most embarrassing moment in an orchestra was the time I was seated inside, turned a page with my bow not quite securely in my hand, and accidentally threw my bow up in the air. Fortunately it came back down within arm's reach, but it still hit the music stand before I was able to catch it.