9-year-old Ontario pianist to perform child-prodigy concert with symphony

Nine-year-old piano prodigy Murasaki Matsutani will perform with members of the KW Symphony at the St. Matthews Lutheran Church in Kitchener on May 11.

At just nine years old, Murasaki Matsutani of Waterloo, Ont., has already taken home second place in two international competitions.

The young talent will now be performing in a concert centred entirely around the music of child prodigy composers, with a symphony that was headed for bankruptcy just last fall.

Last September, the news that the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony was headed for bankruptcy disappointed many in the community including Matsutani.

“It made me sad when they announced the bankruptcy so I wanted to fundraise for them,” she said.

Matsutani and her mom to reach out to former members of the symphony to see if they could collaborate.

With Matsutani having also trained in violin with another former member, they had connections with the group, who have managed to remain together as they await their fate together.

One of those connections was Lori Gemmell, who has been a harpist with the orchestra for more than two decades, got the ball rolling from there.

“We’ve been organizing concerts all year, mostly chamber music concerts or smaller groups,” Gemmell said. “