Bengaluru-based child pianist wins big at International Music of the World contest

According to his parents, Ankita and Kapil Lad, Lad has always been an avid pianist from early on. 

CHENNAI :  Nine-year-old Aarav Lad has come far in his journey as a pianist, having started out at the age of five, he has already won big at his first international competition. Lad, a Bengaluru-based student, was one of 120 competitors in the fifth International Music of the World contest. According to his parents, Ankita and Kapil Lad, Lad has always been an avid pianist from early on. 

“He has always had a penchant for playing the piano, we got Aarav a 32-key mini piano when he was four, he started learning formally at the age of five and has been learning ever since. Whatever activity Aarav picks up, he completely immerses himself in it and does it with a lot of focus. Right from the beginning, he leaned towards the western classical genre which has a large piano repertoire, and finds a lot of pleasure in learning new and challenging classical pieces. Over time, his repertoire has grown in complexity,” Ankita says.

Competitors came from over 24 countries across the world, with Lad competing with solo pianists from the US, Russia, China, Canada and Germany. On March 18, he found that he had won second place in the Piano Solo category in his age group 9 to 11, being one of the youngest to bag the prize. He was the only Indian in the age group to win. “It feels very good to have won. It’s my first competition and it’s nice that I was able to win. My favourite composers are Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven and Liszt. While I play classical compositions, I hope to create my own in the future,” he says.

Lad is currently being trained by prolific Belarussian concert pianists Natallia Kapylova and Liudmila Drazhnik. “We are incredibly proud of him. He has grown immensely with his current teachers. It may be too early to say, but when asked, he says he would want to be both a pianist and a mathematician! We would be happy for him to follow whichever path he chooses,” Ankita says.

In the meantime, Lad has also shown a penchant for academics as well. “When Aarav is not playing piano, he’s usually listening to classical music. He also enjoys solving Rubik’s cubes and has participated and won in many competitions, he can solve the 3×3 cube in 10-11 seconds and the 2×2 in 3-4 seconds. He learnt when he was 6 and can solve 14-15 different types of cubes. He also loves Math, Physics and space, and has done well in many Indian and International Math Olympiads,” Ankita says.