12 year old piano prodigy tv#

“Playing is something I have to do and something I want to do.”įor the seniors, Christopher knocked out all four Chopin ballades.

“It makes me happy,” Christopher said the other evening as he sat down at the polished black piano in the lounge while one by one his audience finished their tilapia and broccoli in the dining room and proceeded, many by means of walker or four-pronged cane, to lay claim to any good seats that remained. He says he does it for the seniors and for himself. Christopher is here, and Christopher is going to play some Chopin.Īnd not just the easy stuff, but the whirling ballades and the high-octane waltzes and scherzos that usually separate the young pianists from the veterans but - in the case of a prodigy like Christopher - don’t.Ĭhristopher has been performing at the Lodge, an assisted living residence in Alameda, since he was 7.

12 year old piano prodigy tv#

They stop knitting their afghans, and they stop watching the TV news.Īll that stuff can wait. Whenever 12-year-old Christopher Nguyen drops by the senior center and sits down on the piano bench, the residents stop working their jigsaw puzzles. Manjula Varghese / San Francisco Chronicle Show More Show Less Manjula Varghese / San Francisco Chronicle Show More Show Less 5 of5 Christopher Nguyen, a 12-year old classical pianist, walks into The Lodge, an Alameda-based senior assisted living center, with his mother, Maggie and younger brother Nicholas, where he plays piano every other week to an audience of senior community members, at The Lodge in Alameda, California. With over 120 classical music compositions memorized he plays directly from memory on at The Lodge in Alameda, California. Manjula Varghese / San Francisco Chronicle Show More Show Less 4 of5 Christopher Nguyen, a 12-year old classical pianist, volunteers more than an hour every other week to play piano for groups of seniors at The Lodge, an Alameda-based senior care community. Manjula Varghese / San Francisco Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of5 Residents Mike Smith, Helen Waldear, and Alice Chalip look on and listen as 12 year classical pianist Christopher Nyugen, plays for them at The Lodge a senior assisted living community based in Alameda on at The Lodge in Alameda, California. Photos by Manjula Varghese / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of5 Christopher Nguyen, a 12-year old classical pianist, volunteers more than an hour every other week to play piano for groups of seniors at The Lodge, an Alameda-based senior care community. 3 to George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, sits by his favorite piano which is in his home and looks out the window on Jin San Leandro, California.

1 of5 Christopher Nguyen, a 12-year old classical pianist, who has over a 120 classical pieces memorized and enjoys playing everything from FrŽdŽric Chopin ?’tude Op.