NINE-year-old Hannah Wang’s prodigious piano performances have taken her around the world.
She was invited to play at Carnegie Hall in New York City, stormed the stage in Vienna, Paris and Imola, Italy, and has just returned from a solo with the Wu Han Orchestra in China.
The Year 5 Methodist Ladies’ College (MLC) student said the chance to perform a movement from a Beethoven piano concerto with an orchestra was a “prestigious opportunity”.
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READ NOW“One of my dreams was to perform with a real orchestra,” she said.
“I like how you can play around with sound and do dynamics and gestures.”
Hannah said she imagines a variety of places when she takes to the keys.
“There was one Chopin piece I played that was a waltz, and it felt like riding a rollercoaster,” she said.
She counts Mozart, Haydn, Glinka and Liszt as some of her favourite composers.
Hannah started learning piano at three and a half after watching her elder brothers play with a teacher at their home.
“She would sit on the end of the piano and say ‘it’s my turn’,” mother Christina Wang said.
The young pianist completed her AMEB Grade 8 piano examination at the age of seven under the tutelage of Yoon Sen Lee, has won numerous international competitions and also plays violin.
Mrs Wang said she “bawled her eyes out” when she saw her daughter take to the stage with the Wu Han Orchestra.
“I knew it was her dream,” she said.
MLC music director Robert Faulkner said he wished he had known Hannah years ago when writing a chapter in Gary McPherson’s 2016 book Musical Prodigies.
“She’d definitely be in there,” he said.
“We use the term prodigy carefully, but this is truly exceptional.”
Hannah said she would love to have more opportunities to perform with orchestras in the future.
“I want to just let the audience enjoy,” she said.
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