This pint-sized piano player is making waves in the music world.
Jasmine Lai started playing piano aged four and by the time she was six, she had written her first composition, an upbeat piece called Balloon that she performed at the Solo Festival of Yamaha Music Australia.
She has received more than 16 international, national and regional awards in the past two years, including winning the Golden Key International Piano Composition Competition in 2016 and 2017, and last year winning the Piano Marvel International YouTube Competition for another composition, Ice Skating.
The grade 5 Heathdale Christian College student is learning orchestral percussion and violin and is a percussionist in the Melbourne Youth Orchestra’s Wind Symphony.
More recently, Jasmine received an award from Trinity College in London after she received the highest mark for her grade 5 percussion exam.
“I’ve got music in my head all the time,” she said.
The 11-year-old has big plans for the future – she wants to become a leading Australian composer, conductor and even a lecturer.
Jasmine practises on her instruments for up to two hours every day and says she gets inspiration for her compositions from everywhere, including love songs.