Lydian Nadhaswaram, a 13-year-old Indian pianist from Chennai, emerged as the final winner in the American reality show The World’s Best. He beat South Korea’s Kukkiwon, a.k.a. ‘The Flying Taekwondo Masters’ to secure the victory.
The Mini Maestro, won millions of hearts and a whopping USD1 million (about INR7 crore) top prize on the CBS global talent show.
The musical prodigy from India impressed the judges as well as the audience by performing two piano medleys in the finals.
He stunned everyone at the contest by playing 280 beats per minute. He then increased his speed to 325 beats per minute.
The Chennai star spent four years at the 'Mozart of Madras' AR Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory and is now tutored by his father Varshan Satish, who is a music director by profession.
Apart from 50 other judges, the show was judged by Faith Hill, RuPaul Charles and Drew Barrymore.
After his great win, Music maestro AR Rahman took to his social media handle and lauded him.
"I have been playing the Piano for four years. I got inspiration from my sister, who plays the piano and my father, who plays keyboards. I'm happy that I won this prize," Lydian was quoted as saying.
KM Music Conservatory hosted a special function last week to honour Lydian’s achievements. Rahman even addressed Lydian as “India’s music ambassador.”
Lydian also featured on the Ellen DeGeneres show last week where he performed Mozart's 'Turkish March' blindfolded. ”Lydian is only 13 years old, and he can play Mozart blindfolded. I’m 61 and I can’t spell Mozart blindfolded,” Ellen mentioned in a Facebook post.