Have any of you heard of a kid "KIT AMRSTRONG"

[classicarts]

For the first time, I've seem this kid, a thirteen year old genius and prodigy name of Kit Armstrong on tv lastnight.  He is a concert pianist and a composure.  He completed high school at the age of 7 years old.  At the age of 12, he completed his undergraduate degree in piano performance,composition, and science. He now attends the Royal Academy of Music and Imperial College in London, England.  This kid is remarkable.  He is someone to watch in the field of classical music.   

[pianohopper]

I do not like prodigies.  As far as I am concerned, they are more likely to collapse and fail than anybody else, even with their head start.  The stress must be incredible, the pressure of always being the best and perfect.  How do you deal?  My head would explode.

[allthumbs]

I do not like prodigies.  As far as I am concerned, they are more likely to collapse and fail than anybody else, even with their head start.  The stress must be incredible, the pressure of always being the best and perfect.  How do you deal?  My head would explode.

Well, I did see him on the David Letterman show and apart from his brilliant playing, he seemed like a rather normal, albeit mature sounding, 13 year old. He seemed unfazed by the joking around that Letterman was doing and that fact that he has completed university at such a young age seemed to not be anything special to him.

Well grounded in reality I would say and a delightful kid to boot.


Cheers

allthumbs

[cherub_rocker1979]

Kit Armstrong

Kit Armstrong is a thirteen-year-old pianist and composer who also displays remarkable gifts for mathematics, science, and languages. At the age of five, he began formal composition and piano studies. At seven, he became the youngest scholarship student in the history of Chapman University in California, attending the university part-time while completing high school. Two years later, he became a full-time undergraduate student, studying piano performance, composition, and science. He now attends the Royal Academy of Music and Imperial College in London, England.

Whilst attending college, Kit has already given a number of performances; the most notable are the Steinway and Sons' Anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, the Classical Music Luncheon of the 44th Annual Grammy Awards honoring Van Cliburn, and recitals for the Vancouver Recital Society and Stanford Lively Arts. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras having made his concerto debut at the age of eight. Forthcoming engagements include Beethoven Concerto No. 1 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Yuri Temirkanov, and a recital at Shriver Hall in their Piano Celebration Festival.

Kit's piano repertoire encompasses a wide range of composers including all 24 Preludes and Fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book I by Bach, 12 Mozart Piano Sonatas, 12 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, as well as works by Haydn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Debussy, and Ravel. His concerto repertoire includes works by Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.

As a composer, Kit has written in various styles. His compositions include numerous pieces for solo piano, a viola sonata, three string quartets, a piano quartet, piano quintet, wind quintet, two piano concertos, a cello concerto, and a symphony. This symphony, "Celebration", which he composed at the age of seven, was premiered by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. In addition to winning a number of state competitions, he has been awarded the Morton Gould Young Composer Award for four consecutive years.

Kit currently resides in London, where his principal piano teacher is Benjamin Kaplan. When Kit is not practising, composing, or thinking about mathematical problems, he enjoys skiing, playing tennis, squash, and flying paper airplanes. While in California, he enjoys playing with his two pet chickens - Carbon and Nitrogen.

[mrchops10]

He has pet chickens named Carbon and Nitrogen?

Never heard him play, but I like him already.

[sergei r]

I'd be interested in hearing some of his compositions...

[classicarts]

I think he could will be the next Mozart.   

[Jacey1973]

I didn't see the show (we don't get it ihere!) but he sounds fantastic! He's obviously a genius at many things by the sounds of it - i've heard maths and music often go together (shame i was always pretty poor at maths!) Being able to play the first book of the well tempered clavier and 12 Beethoven sonatas alone is a huge achievement!!