'Little Mozart', 9, will make BBC Proms debut

NICKNAMED Little Mozart, Marc Yu can’t reach the foot pedals of a grand piano.

But on Sunday, the nine-year-old will make his debut at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

He was born with perfect pitch, a talent shared by only one in 10,000 others, and he practises on the piano for eight hours a day.  He made his concert debut, on the piano and cello, at six - the same age as Mozart was in 1762 when he gave his first performance.

At the Proms, Marc will perform a duet with Chinese pianist Lang Lang, playing Schubert’s Fantasia in F minor.

Dressed in traditional white tie and tails, he finds it easier to lean against the piano stool rather than sit on it to perform.

Marc, from California, said: ‘The problem is that my legs aren’t straight. They bend a little, so I have to get very close to the piano and stretch my legs to reach.’

Marc started playing the piano at a friend’s birthday party in Los Angeles when he was only two. As children sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, he toddled over to the piano and started playing the tune.