Hometown hero
David Thompson seeking provincewide support for national piano contest
David Thompson in national piano contest.
He loves tickling the ivories and the P.E.I. teen’s hope in a national piano contest is counting on Islanders to help him by tickling the online “vote” button.
David Thompson is a 17-yearold high school student who has entered the CBC Piano Hero contest and is currently ninth place.
But he’s hoping to win if he has enough family, friends and Island supporters who will go online and vote for him before the contest closes Thursday at 3 p.m.
“I’ve been playing since I was six and I love music,” said the Grade 12 student before sitting down and offering up a boogie woogie at the family home.
The contest requires contestants to send in a video of them performing a piece of music. Thompson selected a song by Norwegian classical composer Edvard Grieg and admits it was daunting.
“I can’t remember how many times I had to start the video over and over again to complete it with no mistakes,’’ he laughs.
The only Island representative in the top 10 most-viewed videos as of Tuesday, he has a chance to be named Canada’s favourite amateur classical pianist.
The winner gets an upright piano courtesy of Steinway Piano Galleries of Canada plus a trip for two to Montreal to make a professional music video, a private piano lesson with musician David Jalbert and attendance at a concert by l’Orchestre Métropolitain, including the opportunity to perform a pre-concert solo.
“I have a lot of friends helping me, but it would be awesome if the entire province helped me out.”
Anyone can vote once a day, every day until 3 p.m. Jan. 28. Thompson performed his piece at the Hillcrest United Church. It can be viewed at http://piano2016.strutta.com/entry/9972503 or search for piano hero 2016 and follow links.