USA/FILE: 11 - year-old piano prodigy, Ethan Bortnick, sets the Guinness World Record as the youngest solo musician to headline his own concert tour

Record ID: 231800

  • Title: USA/FILE: 11 - year-old piano prodigy, Ethan Bortnick, sets the Guinness World Record as the youngest solo musician to headline his own concert tour
  • Date: 25th July 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ETHAN BORTNICK, PIANO PLAYER, SAYING: (ON HIS FAVORITE TYPE OF MUSIC) "No, I mean, if I had to, I guess, all of them, I can't pick - because they are all different and amazing."
  • Embargoed: 9th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA10KUDN6SJ3HMSI7TW4A9REA0R
  • Story Text: After a little over a decade of living, 11-year-old piano player Ethan Bortnick has headlined a show in Las Vegas, Nevada and has shared a stage with everyone from Elton John to Beyonce.
    Now the prodigy holds the Guinness World Records title as The World's Youngest Solo Musician to Headline his own Tour at the age of nine. Bortnick was presented his certificate by an official from Guinness in New York City on Wednesday (July 25.) Two years after setting the record the sixth grader is hitting the road again for a 22 U.S. city tour titled "It's All About Music," that he described as unpredictable fun.
    "I'm going to play all kinds of music, classical, jazz, pop, my own music, all kinds of music. I'm also going to do a lot of interactive with the audience. Going to bring a lot of people on stage - you never know what's going to happen," Bortnick told Reuters.
    The Hollywood, Florida native started playing the piano at the age of three, after begging his parents for piano lessons. The first song he taught himself to play was on his small toy piano.
    "I was playing everything that I heard I would just start mimicking on it. And the first song was Alla Turca by Mozart, what I just played. But I was very bad because my little keyboard, it was like ten keys, but then I learned it for real - but after my parents saw they finally said I could have piano lessons," Bortnick explained.
    A portion of the proceeds from his tour and sales from his new single "It's All About Music" will go to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. A cause close to his heart after he watched his younger brother battle through three heart surgeries.
    "Every time I would visit him, when he would have the surgeries, I saw all the kids in the hospitals basically suffering. And I just felt so bad for them. So I just decided that I really want to help as many people as I can," said Bortnick.
    The "It's All About Music" tour will run from July 27 until September 2.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register