When child prodigy means child prodigy

Child prodigy can at times be a bit of an exaggeration, but for Kit Armstrong it was perfectly appropriate.

Of British and Taiwanese parentage, he was born in Los Angeles. The family wasn’t musical, there was no access to a piano, but at the age of five he taught himself musical composition. By the age of nine, he was a full-time undergraduate at Utah State University studying maths, biology, physics as well as music.

In 2004, when he was twelve, he moved to London to study piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, while at the same time studying pure maths at Imperial College. Four years later, he graduated with a first class honours from the Royal Academy. Although also getting an MSc with honours for maths, he opted for a musical career, having debuted at the age of eight with the Long Beach Bach Festival Orchestra. He has since played with any number of orchestras, has composed numerous works and has released many critically acclaimed recordings.

With the Balearic Symphony Orchestra, he will be performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major.