During Covid, we all had to find new ways to amuse ourselves, but parents had an especially challenging time of it. Three-year-old Brigette Xie’s parents decided to sign her up for virtual piano lessons to give their daughter something to do during quarantine. Little did they know those lessons would take her all the way to Carnegie Hall.

Brigitte’s first solo piano recital below was recorded just 7 months after her first lesson. The little pianist does a pretty solid job, but what’s to come is even more remarkable.

Brigette’s piano teacher convinced her parents to allow her to enter the Elite International Music Competition. The first prize is an opportunity to perform in New York’s iconic Carnegie Hall, and guess who won?

Xie will be performing next month as part of the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition. While I’m not completely convinced she is ready for Carnegie Hall, the Connecticut native is still a mighty impressive now-four-year-old. You know, I could sing the hell out of Happy Birthday at four, but nobody was entering me in any competitions…

Brigette is following in the footsteps of many famous child prodigies, including one of my favorite musicians of all time, Yo-Yo Ma. Watch 7-year-old Yo-Yo as he plays the cello for JFK, accompanied by his sister on piano.

Epilogue: Sadly, Carnegie Hall decided that young Brigitte can’t become the youngest person to perform there because she’s too young to get a Covid vaccination. However, since she’s still got 8 years to claim the title, I am hopeful she will still get a chance to wow the crowds at the legendary venue sometime in the near future. When asked whether her daughter was disappointed, Brigitte’s mother, Nicole Sun, had this to say;

“She doesn’t know much to be honest. I tell her ‘yeah baby you won the prize’ and she was like ‘ok, can we go to Disney store now?’”

We could all take a page from her book…