Pierrefonds piano students take their talents to Carnegie Hall (again)

Pierrefonds's Lambda School of Music and Fine Arts isn't your average music school.

Many young musical prodigies who win international competitions have walked through its doors — and the good news just keeps rolling in.

For the past eight years, students from the Lambda School have been invited to play the cream of the crop of classical music venues: New York City's Carnegie Hall.

Today, 10 students will perform at the renowned Midtown Manhattan venue, including Victoria Mo, who performed at the venue last year.

The 12-year-old pianist says she was elated when she found out she'd be playing Carnegie again.

"It's a lot bigger and grander (than other places I've played)," she told CBC Montreal's Homerun. "The piano was very big … I felt like it was bigger than the average piano."

She's right — the concert piano at Carnegie Hall is a nine-foot Steinway concert grand piano. Average grand pianos generally measure near six feet.

"I was a bit nervous because there was a lot of people in the big hall, but it went by really fast," Mo said of her performance last year.

Her sister, eight-year-old Samantha, is playing both today and in March. She said she was concentrating hard on her piece when she played Carnegie last year.

"I felt very good," she said.

Joining them is seven-year-old Patrick Yin, who is very excited to play the venue for the first time.

"I like the piano; that's why I always play by myself," Yin said. "It's so beautiful and I like to play some pieces [that] are really fast."

Lambda School's secrets to success

Angela Chan, director and founder of Lambda School, says hard work, love, commitment and breeding a love of music are all part of the package that creates excellent piano students.

"Talent alone won't bring you very far," Chan said. "What's important is being able to harness it, to work hard and be guided so you are able to make the commitment to progress."

On top of that, she said, family encouragement and motivation are crucial to a student's success.

"It's a very important what I call tripod strategy structure, which is the student, the parents and the teacher working in tandem," Chan said.

This approach helps harness the students' potential and maximize it, she said, so that every year, more and more students participate in and win competitions.

"I think we are very lucky to have parents and children who are so committed."