![]() “The only things that are left for even the most brilliant of them are reheated gestures from a museum.” “What can be said for certain is that serious art music could never be written by a child,” argued critic and novelist Philip Hensher in 2007, upon hearing Symphony no 5 by Jay Greenberg, the Juilliard-educated prodigy who was then aged 15. People can be very cynical about modern child prodigies – hence the slightly sneering ‘Little Miss’ epithet. My parents didn’t understand why I was so tired in the morning and didn’t want to get up!” “I woke up and I didn’t want to lose the melodies so I took my notebook and wrote it all down, which took almost three hours. Two years ago, in the middle of the night, an entire set of piano variations in E-flat announced itself to her subconscious. “Sometimes it might be a human voice singing, sometimes a piano, sometimes a violin.” “Even when I’m trying to do something else, when people are talking to me about something completely different, I get these beautiful melodies that play inside my mind,” she told me. The British girl is being described as ‘Little Miss Mozart’, not only because of her precocious talents, but because of her inspirations, namely: “Mozart, Schubert and Tchaikovsky - the composers of the most beautiful melodies ever written.”Īs a composer, Deutscher is brimming with charming melodies, which often arrive unbidden and fully formed. A composer of piano and violin sonatas, string quartets and lately a full-length opera, Deutscher also plays the violin and piano superbly – and has recently turned ten. ![]() Whatever he decides, William is already firmly on the path to a bright future.This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alma Deutscher. “Maybe I want to be an artist, maybe a pianist, or maybe composer or piano teacher,” said William Zhang the winner of the American Protege International Piano and Strings Competition. William isn’t yet sure where he’s headed but says piano is definitely in his future. ![]() One of the youngest to play, his performance was flawless. Then came the big day when William performed at Carnegie Hall. Did I look at it wrong So I blew it up on my desktop computer screen and checked. “I didn’t want to tell them because I wanted to make sure. In January, the family found out William had won the competition. We work together,” said Guangyu Zhang William Zhang’s father.Īll that work paid off. “It’s like the best team: parents, student and teacher. Today he practices up to three hours a day. Then at four and a half he began piano lessons. So his parents, who didn’t play instruments themselves, taught him to play baby songs. He can punch the little key and make some beautiful sound and why don’t you teach him But no, nobody want to teach him,” Wang said. Zhang’s parents wanted him to start lessons at two or three but everyone told them he was too young. But they had a hunch he would take a liking to the instrument. When he was just two they bought him a $20,000 piano. “Whenever there is music in the house, he jumps and moves so we just feel he loves music,” said Julie Wang, William Zhang’s mother. William’s parents say he always responded to music. “Music brings me happiness and I want to bring the audience happiness,” Zhang said. He’s playing Mozart, one of his favorite composers along with Bach and Chopin. What got him there was this amateur video taken by his father. The 6-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia, won first prize in the American Protege International Piano and Strings Competition. In a few days, he would be playing Carnegie Hall. Visiting New York City for the first time is an exciting experience for many, but William Zhang – had an extra reason to smile.
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