11-year-old becomes youngest ever person to receive a music degree
27 April 2015, 13:10 | Updated: 27 April 2015, 15:08
Piano prodigy Curtis Elton becomes the youngest-ever student to become a Licentiate of Trinity College London.
Image: SWNS.com
The qualification – Licentiate of Trinity College London (LTCL) – is equivalent in standard to the final year of an undergraduate music degree.
Elton is no stranger to the limelight. He has appeared on Britain’s Got Talent and in Channel 4’s ‘Child Genius’ programme.
In 2013, at the age of nine, he became the youngest-ever person to pass an exam equivalent to the first year of an undergraduate course – the ATCL diploma from Trinity.
The youngster played a 37-minute recital made up of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E flat, a Mozart Sonata, two Etudes by Chopin and ‘April’ by John Ireland.
Curtis, who began playing the piano when he was three, is home-schooled and practises on his own white grand piano for around two hours a day. He passed his grade 8 when he was just eight years old.
His mother, Hayley, is a concert pianist herself.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Curtis said he wanted to be as successful as Lang Lang – but that he also admired the Manchester United footballers Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie.
“I used to listen to my mother playing when I was younger and I really enjoyed it,” said Curtis. “The piano is a really musical instrument and it is nice to play. My favourite composer is probably Chopin.”
