Alma Deutscher, born 2005, is a composer, violinist and pianist. She started playing the piano when she was two years old and the violin when she was three. Soon afterwards she started improvising simple melodies on the piano. Her attempts at composition started aged four, when she began writing an opera about a pirate called Don Alonzo.
When she was 6, she composed her first full piano sonata, and at 7 she composed a very short opera called The Sweeper of Dreams. There followed various compositions for violin, piano, and chamber ensembles. Aged 9, Alma wrote a concerto for violin and orchestra, which she premiered in 2015. Her first piece for symphony orchestra, Dance of the Solent Mermaids was also premiered in 2015.
Aged 10, Alma composed her full length opera, Cinderella. A chamber version of the opera was performed in Israel in 2015, and the full version was premiered in Vienna under the patronage of Maestro Zubin Mehta in December 2016, to standing ovations, and international critical acclaim.
In July 2017, Alma premiered her first piano concerto, and played it with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, alongside her violin concerto, to the jubilation of the public and the press.
As a soloist on both violin and piano, Alma has performed in England, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Uruguay, USA, Israel, and Japan. She has also performed in prestigious events, including Google's Zeitgeist, alongside speakers such as Physicist Stephen Hawking.
Alma has featured prominently in the international press and broadcast media. Her YouTube channel has more than 4 million views.
Alma currently plays on a violin by Guarneri del Gesù kindly lent to her by Beare’s International Violin Society.