Prodigies, they continue to capture the imagination. Here we meet a child prodigy who composes and plays the piano.
Kit Armstrong, now in his thirties, started his career at an early age. Born to British and Taiwanese parents, the American child prodigy emerged as a pianist of classical and early romantic repertoire, especially in chamber music settings. As a composer, we hear a very different side of him. His compositions are playful and ironic, and the music most closely resembles the neoclassicism of the 1920s and 1930s. In this, he is reminiscent of another former child prodigy, Marijn Simons.
In these 2007 and 2009 concerts, Armstrong is 15 and 17 respectively. You will hear how the pianist and composer have developed in two years. Has he matured? En passant, you will hear some of the best works Mozart ever wrote, but also laugh at titles like Struwwelpeter and Who stole my wasabi?
Playlist
1. Felix Mendelssohn – Lieder ohne Worte opus 38/2, opus 5/6 and opus 62/6
2. Kit Armstrong – Struwwelpeter
3. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano quartet in g minor, KV 478
4. Ludwig van Beethoven – Cello Sonata No. 4 in c major, opus 102/1
5. Kit Armstrong – Quintet for piano and winds
6. Kit Armstrong – Who stole my wasabi?
7. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Quintet for piano and winds, KV 452
