Piano prodigy can’t play Carnegie Hall because she’s too young to get COVID-19 vaccine

 By Fiona Jackson via SWNS

The youngest winner of one of the world's most elite music competitions can't claim her prize of playing piano at Carnegie Hall - because she's too young to get the vaccine.

Mini Mozart, four-year-old Brigitte Xie only started playing the piano a year ago in lockdown, but instantly revealed a talent for music.

The pint-sized prodigy can read music and play a note-perfect rendition of Beethoven's Sonatina in F Major - her feet dangling far above the pedals.

Her incredible talent saw her crowned the youngest winner of the prestigious Elite International Music Competition.

She was asked to play a concert at New York's Carnegie Hall, but can't go because all performers are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 - and she's too young.

Pre-schooler Brigitte was forced to pull out - but will be given another chance at a future concert in 2022.

Her mom Nicole Sun, 32, from Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA, said: "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?'

"She doesn’t even know what Carnegie Hall is but I tell her 'you're going to perform in front of many people' and she seemed excited because she likes performing."

A pianist herself, Nicole wanted her only daughter to play the instrument and took the opportunity to introduce her to it while under lockdown last year to keep her entertained.

"She tried to play around, but it wasn't really playing the piano, just playing with the piano," she said.

The mom started teaching her daughter, then three, but enlisted the help of online lessons from Felicia Feng Zhang of All Talent Academy.

The little musician picked up more in six months than most do in years' worth of lessons and quickly learned to read sheet music and sight-read classical pieces.

Eventually, she started attending in-person lessons with Felicia in Greenwich, Connecticut, who noticed her talent and urged her to enter competitions.

Nicole said: "I remember the first time I heard her play the first piece at Felicia's studio I felt really moved.

"I didn’t know at this young age she could follow instructions and play the pieces."

Brigitte passed her Royal College of Music Level 1 exam before her 4th birthday in May with a first-class mark of 86.

She practices for just 45 minutes a day and has one half-hour lesson a week, but neither Nicole nor dad Tao Xie, 33, has to nag her, as she'll wander over herself.

Nicole said: "Recently we have one song from one easy book called ‘Down By the Bay' and she learned that song in her pre-school, so she's enjoying playing that one, she likes to sing too."

She won the Elite National Music Competition last December, and then in March this year won first place at the American Protégé International Competition.

The latter competition awarded her an invitation to perform at the world-renowned music venue Carnegie Hall this November.

The tinkling tot wanted to perform Mozart, and would potentially have been the youngest ever to ever play on the New York stage.