Winner runs a Harvard lab focused on gifted children and Dr. Winner and Ruthsatz are two of the world’s leading experts on prodigies (prodigy-ologists?) Dr. Joanne Ruthsatz of Ohio State University.ĭrs. “One in 5 million children might be a prodigy, says Dr. Ellen Winner, professor of psychology at Boston College. ![]() And, if you have to ask if your kid is a prodigy, they aren’t. These are examples of genuine child prodigies, the kind making the 6 o’clock news or attending medical school before puberty. Without you, there’s no way little Johnny could repeat key punchlines from Ghostbusters or identify the starting point guard on your preferred squad of ballers.īut while those things undoubtedly matter - seriously, people, Ghostbusters - there’s a difference between special and “special.” By age 8, Mozart composed his first symphony and mathemagenius Terence Tao scored a 760 on the math portion of the SAT. “I like the sound of it,” is the most I manage to coach out of the shy boy who prefers to let his music do the talking for him.Of course your precious sunflower is special, because you are an excellent parent. So, what does the piano prodigy himself have to say about his incredible talent and his soon-to-soar career as a piano virtuoso? His newest work, entitled Tears - a heartbreaking piece of music he performs on this day for his visitors - is about to be published. The commissioned work in honour of High River flood victims, no surprise, received a standing ovation. “He is the most all-round musician of any age that I’ve met.”Īlong with performing for bigger and bigger audiences and the odd competition - “I don’t want to push the competitions,” says Athparia, “I don’t want him to be exploited” - last fall Chen performed River Rhapsody at a concert in High River. “The pile is already high of the pieces he’s composed,” she says of her student that is able to sight-read anything and hear complex pitches and sounds. “He understands music so much - I guide him, but I wouldn’t say I really have to teach him.”ĭespite Chen’s natural abilities, Athparia adds that his early achievement has also come from good, old, hard work. “I’ve taught many, many talented kids and prodigies, but I’ve never taught anyone like Kevin,” she says. It didn’t take long for Athparia - who was also the long-time instructor of international young piano sensation Jan Lisiecki - to see that she had a musical force of nature on her hands. “We got him a bigger one, then a real piano.” “Every time he played, he was so happy,” says his mom, who admits neither she nor her engineer husband are musical types. I said, ‘you don’t have to keep going, I’ll find a spot for you.’”Ĭhen, the oldest of Matthew and Kathy Chen’s four children, got his first taste of piano playing on a toy keyboard as a toddler. “He played a Bach invention, a Mozart sonata, some Haydn,” she recalls with a smile. No surprise then, that when the piano-playing preschooler showed up at her studio door in 2011, Athparia quickly realized she had another prodigy on her hands. In 2013, he won first place at the National Finals of Canadian Music Competition in the seven-year-old category and in 2014, he was named to CBC’s list of Top 30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30 - the only one under age 10. In 2012, Chen made his orchestral debut with the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra wind players. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. At age eight, he became the youngest Canadian to pass, with distinction, his ARCT performer’s RCM practical exam. At the tender age of six, he became the youngest Canadian to take, and pass with first class honours, the Royal Conservatory of Music’s grade nine exam. ![]() While such an invitation might intimidate some, it’s just another milestone in his incredible story. “When (CPO conductor) Roberto Minzcuk asked him what he’d like to play, Kevin didn’t hesitate to choose Mozart.” ![]() 27, in a family concert called Peter and the Wolf (“He’s very excited to play with the CPO,” says Athparia, a veteran instructor with both the Mount Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Calgary. On March 22, Chen, a member of Mount Royal Conservatory’s academy for gifted youth students, will be the youngest pianist to ever play a concerto as part of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra’s main series. It is a gift that has seen Chen already win competitions at the national level and garnered him invitations to play with several Canadian orchestras.
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