It was the end of term in 2003 at the Royal Academy of Music, and some young hopefuls were going through their paces. On walked a tiny boy with a wide smile, luminous gaze and hands that could barely stretch an octave. But there was nothing boyish about the way this pianist of British-Taiwanese origin played the first movement of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto – he radiated a finely nuanced expressiveness and coolly relaxed authority.
At 12 years old, Kit Armstrong was already being talked about in tones of reverential wonder, so I decided to interview him. Sensing something mysterious, I got a pre-emptive briefing from his economist mother. ‘As a baby he didn’t sleep much,’ said May Armstrong. ‘And he had ultra-sensitive hearing. The slightest sound in the next room would wake him up. I first became aware
