To interpret what you see and what you feel. ZHANG: It's beyond the speaking language because I have to use 10 fingers. MARTIN: But music isn't just any language. ZHANG: She read the music, and the music is a language. MARTIN: Here's her teacher on a talk show explaining why she thinks Brigitte is able to progress so quickly. That's very - for that, 3 years old, it's really amazing. ZHANG: I said, now, can you play right-hand D major, left-hand C major, right-hand G major? Then she went - boom, boom, boom, boom, boom - make all the different, right moves. Her teacher says she is still amazed how quickly Brigitte learned. Brigitte's parents have to place a stool under the piano bench to keep her feet from dangling above the ground. MARTIN: That's Brigitte's mother, Nicole Sun. NICOLE SUN: The first time I heard she - playing a piano piece, I was so deeply moved. TAO ZIE: At the beginning, I never expected she's going to be a prodigy or anything. MARTIN: Brigitte's father, Tao Zie, signed her up for Zoom classes - you know, something to do during lockdown. ZHANG: From the lessons, I observed she has a curious mind, and she loved to learn. MARTIN: That's Brigitte's piano teacher, Felicia Feng Zhang. She is only 4 years old.įELICIA FENG ZHANG: Brigitte came to me when she was just 2 months after 3 years old. A year later, she became the youngest winner of the prestigious Elite International Music Competition, which grants the winner a performance on stage at Carnegie Hall. MARTIN: Last fall, Brigitte Xie took up the piano. Some of us have even taken up a musical instrument, perhaps the piano. Some of us have even followed through, a gesture at self-improvement or just a way not to go stir-crazy in COVID times. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.At some point over the last 18 months, each of us has probably thought about taking up some new pastime. Congratulations to all the junior Cliburn competitors. KELLY: And this year's winner, who you just heard there, was 15-year-old Seokyoung Hong of South Korea. KELLY: Each teen piano prodigy was accompanied by an orchestra in the final round to further test their abilities. Normally, junior competition does not have this many rounds and this much repertoire requirement, and this was the competition that I had to play the most pieces. So I was kind of scared, but maybe I also got inspired by them. In this Cliburn competition, I think the level of competitors were really, really - and they all play really good. SEOKYOUNG: And I really like the sound of piano and the fact that I can create the sound I want. I am Seokyoung Hong, and I'm from South Korea. YIFAN: I have prepared for the competition for half a year, and I practice seven hours per day because, you know, the Cliburn competition is really high level. I come from Shanghai, China, and I'm 14 years old. JAN: I am so extremely happy and honored that I got the opportunity to play in such a wonderful hall for 2,000 people and extremely honored that I'm in the finals. And Rachmaninoff, I think he meant this piece as song without word. JAN: It was great enjoyment to make people happy for music and to connect to the audience. I'm 16 years old, and I'm from Czech Republic. JAN SCHULMEISTER: So my name is Jan Schulmeister. KELLY: We spoke with the final three participants of the Junior Cliburn competition as they were headed into the final round. KELLY: They've been competing in the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition, with more than 20 teenagers performing classical sonatas and concertos from top composers. Top pianists from around the world descended on Dallas, Texas, last week.
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