Charlie Liu might be the only 8 year old in the U.S. to be able to give a virtuosic performance on this very difficult Chopin show piece. Not only so, he's also a travel hockey player than plays hockey 5 times a week during season.
Charlie has won 13 international and local piano competitions, performed in all 3 halls of the Carnegie Hall (a feat likely no other 8 year old ever did) and performed on great pianist Lang Lang's own concert (very few kids had done that). He's Massachusetts 1st place and New Jersey 2nd place piano competition winner. Not only so, he's won 2nd place in Greater Princeton Chess Championship. He's identified as exceptional by his school district, participated in Continental Math League, and he skis and snowboards!
Hello Oprah Show!
This is Matthew Dane Peavoy. I just turned 15 years old. I'm a classically trained accordionist and pianist from Central Alberta, Canada. I've been playing piano since I was 4 and accordion since I was 8.
Normally the words accordion and classical never meet in the same sentence, but I have put a unique twist on this largely traditional, yet absolutely magnificant instrument. I have come to love the classics, being much more complicated and appreciated by everyone that I play for. I have been found to get numerous standing ovations, while also being able to bring some audience members to tears with my interpretation and feeling of the piece. This is what sets me apart from other performers, as I literally feel the music and listen and enjoy it while I play.
The accordion is the only instrument that can represent a full 50 piece orchestra, and I have not found an instrument that I can't represent with this versatile instrument [piccilo, oboe, violin, basoon, organ, snare drum, egg shaker, etc]. The accordion, unlike instruments like the piano for example, can make notes start soft and grow into grand chords, like many wind instruments. I can also represent the violin's bowing by use of the bellows and I have discovered how to make the accordion laugh and cry.
The accordion is also one of the most difficult instruments to play, balancing bellow control, note accuracy, dynamics, touch, phrasing, which bass buttons to press [impossible to see], and all at the same time remembering to breathe [least important to me, yet very crutial!]
I have been through many competitions and great performances. I have competed numerous times in local festivals on piano and accordion. I have performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, in August of 2007 with the Calgary Jarosh Accordion Ensemble. I have also competed in the American Accordion Association/American Teacher's Guild International Competition in Washington D.C, placing second in one category.
My greatest achievement to date is winning the Red Deer Festival of the Performing Arts' top award, out of 6,000 people, which was a performance opportunity to perform with the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, which took place on December 8, 2008, with Maestro Claude Lapalme conducting. I played this piece, Czardas, with the full 50 piece orchestra backing me up, along with playing Ave Maria that evening. It has been the highlight of my musical career and an absolutely amazing experience!
I am currently also studying Grade 10 Royal Conservatory piano in addition to playing Trombone, Alto Sax, Euphonium, Trumpet, and numerous percussion instruments. I have also arranged several pieces for my Junior High Band, and composed several pieces on piano and accordion. I have also been referred to numerous times as a prodigy on accordion and piano, though I am not yet willing to place this title on myself.
I hope you enjoy these selections, "Czardas" and "Dark Eyes" as much as I do. Please listen to my other submissions. This opportunity would revolutionize the entire accordion world, as this style of playing is largely unknown.
Thank you!
Matthew Dane Peavoy
§ Passion of Music 2008 - youngest Laureate in international Young Musician Competition, Lincoln Center, New York
§ Long Beach Mozart Festival, 3d place. Youngest Laureate 37 Annual Piano Competition, Long Beach, California
§ Theme “Wow” musical composition 1st place on first stage, National PTA reflection program, USA
§ Helen Brown Music Competition, Winner, Los Angeles, California
§ Moscow Meets Friends International Festival, special invitation to perform by Vladimir Spivakov’s Fond, Moscow, Russia
§ Telluride International Jazz Celebration, solo performance among outstanding jazz musicians like John Scofield, Bill Frisell, Steve Turre. Telluride, CO
Anna Larsen (age 8) performs Chopin's Winter Wind etude. This piece sounds like a brutal winter wind set to music. The furious cascading notes in the right hand are set against a mournful tune in the left. This piece is extremely challenging - 2100 notes blow through the right hand in about 4.5 minutes! It is a feat of both memory and musical ability for any pianist, let alone an eight year old.
Name any country in the world and Arjun can play from memory the country's anthems on the piano. He learnt to play them by listening to them repeatedly.
He plays 6 musical intruments covering classical music - Indian (veena), Persian (santur and tombak) and Western (harp, organ, paino).
At age 6, he has appeared in "Animal Planet: Most extreme tough babies" for his extraordinary memory .
These are my boys Charles, III and Zachariah on the drums. Pure natural talent. I am a Worship Pastor in my church, and they are just enjoy their hobby.
Zachariah is 8 and Charles, III is now 14