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Schoolboy, 11, to play with North Devon Sinfonia

Elliot Ball & Kevin Hay
BBC News, South West
BBC River sat at a piano wearing a navy jacket and blue shirt with his blue and red school tie. He has short brown hair and brown eyes.BBC
River's music teacher has described his talent as remarkable

A schoolboy from Devon is set to the North Devon Sinfonia for a one off concert in late June.

River, an 11-year-old pupil at West Buckland School in Barnstaple, has been playing piano since the age of six when his grandma noticed him humming, whistling and singing to movie music.

"She thought I would be interested in the piano. I said yes and when I started, I found I progressed really quickly," said River.

He will be performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 on 21 June at Torrington's St Michael and All Angels Church.

The schoolboy added: "When I'm playing I'm thinking about stories.

"With Rachmaninoff it's like a big adventure story where people are having to sacrifice something.

"In my mind it's like pictures, stories, lots of different colours all that sort of stuff."

'It's remarkable'

His music teacher Dom Carter said River's talent was beyond anything he had ever seen for his age.

"I've been teaching for 16 years and I have never met a pianist of this skill at this age," he said.

"It's remarkable. River is working on grade seven and grade eight pieces at the age of eleven.

"He is so focussed he has just shot up through the grades. Not that it is about grades for him, he just loves playing."

River's Mum is a woman with long chestnut hair, She is smiling and looking at the camera
River's Mum Laura says her son's musical ability is a surprise

River's mum Laura said neither she nor her husband were musical and their son's talent came as a surprise.

She said: "It makes your skin go all tingly when you hear him play because he has such musicality that gives emotion to whatever he is playing.

"We are just really happy and love hearing him practice."

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