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Before young Wolfgang Mozart became the toast of Europe, the family promoted his older sister, Maria Anna Mozart.
“Virtuosic.” “A prodigy.” “Genius.” These words were written in the 1760s about Mozart—Maria Anna Mozart. When she toured Europe as a pianist, young Maria Anna wowed audiences in Munich, Vienna, Paris, London, the Hague, Germany and Switzerland. “My little girl plays the most difficult works which we have … with incredible precision and so excellently,” her father, Leopold, wrote in a letter in 1764. “What it all amounts to is this, that my little girl, although she is only 12 years old, is one of the most skillful players in Europe.”
Her younger brother learned to play as well and eventually joined her on tour. However, Maria, who the family called Nannerl, was taken off the concert circuit when she became old enough to marry. We’ll never know what could have become of her music if she’d had the same opportunities as Wolfgang. However, Smithsonian looks at Nannerl’s influence on her brother and how much she may have been responsible for his fame. Link
Alexia Sloane is only ten years old, but she got the opportunity to work as an interpreter at the European Parliament in Brussels. Alexia received an exception to the age 14 minimum rule because she is fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Mandarin, and is now learning German -and she does a great job interpreting. Did I mention that Alexia is blind?
Alexia has been tri-lingual since birth as her mother, a teacher, is half French and half Spanish, while her father, Richard, is English.
She started talking and communicating in all three languages before she lost her sight but adapted quickly to her blindness. By the age of four, she was reading and writing in Braille.
When she was six, Alexia added Mandarin to her portfolio. She will soon be sitting a GCSE in the language having achieved an A* in French and Spanish last year. The girl is now learning German at school in Cambridge.
Alexia has wanted to be an interpreter since she was six and chose to go to the European Parliament as her prize when she won a young achiever of the year award.
(Image credit: Geoff Robinson)
Yuto Miyawaza started playing guitar since he was three and loves Ozzy Ozbourne, so naturally he’s a rock star at the tender age of 10.
Here’s his rendition of Ozzy’s Crazy Train at Ellen Show (taken when he was 9). Watch his face at the end, when he got a nice surprise. Link [embedded YouTube Clip]
Marko Calasan of Skopje, Macedonia is the world’s youngest certified computer system administrator at the age of eight. He could get a high-paying job, but he hasn’t yet completed third grade!
Marko learnt to read and write at the age of 2 and started working on computers immediately. The news of his extraordinary achievement turned him into a local celebrity and he has even had an audience with the Macedonian Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, who presented him with an IT lab with 15 computers to practise on.
His parents, who are IT experts and run a computer school for children, are considering sending Marko abroad to a specialised institute of learning for gifted children, as none exists in Macedonia.
Marko passed Microsoft’s tests for IT professionals. He says he wants to create a new operational system for computers …when he grows up. Link -via Arbroath
(image credit: Bojan Pancevski)
Here’s your next rock star: Meet Sara, a 13-year-old kid who kicks butt playing Rush’s YYZ on the drums, complete with stick twirling theatrics and such.
VideoSift has the clip: Link [embedded YouTube] | Sara’s website (in Japanese)
If you like that, here’s Sara (11yo), playing Rush’s Freewill on the drums and singing too!
