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Is this Hong Kong’s next child star? Watch tiny five-year-old pianist show her huge talent

Maya Sha is being hailed as the next ‘one to watch’ – but is too much pressure being heaped on gifted children, and what happened to other prodigies?

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Piano prodigy Maya Sha at Doremi Limited in Central. Photo: Dickson Lee
Rachel BlundyandYupina Ng

Maya Sha Qian-hui is just five years old but is already able to play piano to a standard many adults could never achieve.

The ISF Academy student, who asked her parents if she could take piano lessons on her third birthday, is the latest Hong Kong child star to study at music school Doremi Limited in Central.

The school is known for producing two of Hong Kong’s most successful child pianists, Andy Lee (“Tsung Tsung”) and Phoenix Li, who shot to fame in 2013 and 2016 respectively after appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in the US.
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In Maya’s first media interview this week, her teacher Ricky Lau told the Post she has “a lot of potential”. “She uses her hands to feel the music,” he said.

Maya, who appears to be a bubbly and bright child, practises every day for at least one hour, which her mother Donna Chan said allowed her enough time for homework and other hobbies like swimming.

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“We will see how far she can go,” she said. “We will not push her. Our wish is just for her to enjoy music and have music in her life.”

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