Blind three-year-old shows incredible piano-playing skills

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Locals call him “a little Mozart.”

Three-year-old Branko Dvorecky has been playing classical pieces by Mozart and Bach on the piano since he was two years old.

The Slovakian toddler taught himself.

Even more remarkable, Branko is blind.

His mother told reporters that he first started learning to play the piano by ear from watching Duck Tales, his favourite cartoon. His first song: the Duck Tales theme song.

The young prodigy can now play a number of pop songs and excerpts from classical pieces, including Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

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"When he was a baby he used to love playing with musical toys and would often just hit the keys on our old synth," his mother, 35-year-old Elena Dvorecky told the Express. “Then he started to listen to classical music and loved it so much he began to learn the notes.

"He can only say a few words and yet he can play Bach."

Branko’s father is equally impressed.

"What is amazing is that he has never had any lessons,” Martin Dvorecky, 37, said.

"He just started playing and now he seems to just know where the right keys are. Sometimes he hits a dud note or two, but he’s already better than me and I’ve been trying to learn for about 10 years.”

When neighbours first heard music coming from the Dvoreckys’ home, they assumed Martin had finally learned to play. Instead, they were stunned to discover that it was a three-year-old boy who was entertaining them.

Local music teacher Kristyna Kolarova told the Express, ”It is extremely rare to find such talent in someone who is so young and who is also blind. It is truly remarkable.”

In 2012, we shared the story of another “Mini Mozart.” At just 2 years old, Lavinia Ramirez was making headlines for performing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” at a recital just weeks after her first lesson.

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"Usually children that young are not able to control themselves and do what they are told. And they don’t have the understanding. It takes a certain amount of intellect, being able to listen to what comes out of the piano normally doesn’t come early. Normally they just run down the keys and get bored," Lavinia’s teacher, Matej Lehocky, told This is Plymouth.

"To (play) at just over two years old is something extraordinary, so unheard off, so special."