Alma Deutscher: Former Musical Child Prodigy

She composed her first piano sonata just at the age of five and completed a short opera at seven. Alma Deutscher became the poster child of how age doesn’t matter for passion. This literature piece is about the same as what we can try to describe in words and text

Birth and Background

In Basingstoke, England, she was born in 2005 to literature professor Janie Deutscher and Israeli linguist Guy Deutscher. Both her parents were amateur musicians. It helped her reach milestones like playing the piano just at the age of two, violin at three.
By the age of five, she had already begun writing down her compositions and improvised on the piano. Her first notation wasn’t that clear, but she could write authentic pieces by the age of 6. She even composed her first piano sonata during that time. At ten, she had played in a violin concerto, a short and a full­ length opera.

Recognition as a child prodigy

Stephen Fry, an English actor, comedian, and writer, first noticed Alma Duetscher. He published a video on youtube featuring Deutscher’s videos, writing “Simply mind­blowing: Alma Deutscher playing her own compositions. A new Mozart?”. That’s the earliest form of broad recognition of Alma’s skill. Later, an Israeli musician used a tiny piece from Deutscher’s videos.
The all unprepared intense exposure made the Deutscher couple a little worried about Alma living a happy childhood.

Between Education and Music

The dedication for passion and free ­living began at an early age. She had a different perspective for the conventional education system. Young Alma felt bored and upset in her school in England. In a conversation with news channels, she expressed her feeling that learning from home gave her freedom. She loved to go outside and get fresh air which was only feasible while studying from home. Her parents respected her daughter’s point of view and chose to homeschool her. With her parent’s guidance, she grew up trilingual in English, German, and Hebrew.

Raised the hope of the opera world

At seven, Deutscher completed her first opera, and the second opera based on the fairy tale of Cinderella. After the premiere of Deutscher’s opera, Cinderella, in Vienna in January 2017. An article entitled “Alma and the dangerous love of melody” published in the Viennese newspaper Der Standard. Many say she injected a new life into the world of opera. Robert Schediwy (A famous author) expresses the hope that Deutscher’s love of melody might help opera reconnect with the public in the whole world. In February 2017, Deutscher publicly announced her style, love of melody music, and passion for musical aesthetics, a press conference at the Carinthian Summer Music Festival in Austria.

Achievements

German magazine Stern selected her as one of its twelve “Heroes of Tomorrow” in October 2019. She became the youngest of the twelve who got selected.
Deutscher is also a recipient of the European Culture Prize at the Vienna State Opera in October 2019. In October 2019, she received the Beijing Music Festival Young Artist Award in Beijing.

Also read: Evgeny Kissin: Sensational Prodigious Musical Composer