Vanessa Mae Nicholson is one of Britain’s most successful young musicians. A classical violinist and former child prodigy who self-describes her crossover style as "violin techno-acoustic fusion," her fans praise her modern creativity and frenetic, lightning-fast riffs. But is her talent learned or genetic? Documentary from BBC1 in 2008: Vanessa Mae - The Making of Me: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jun 21, 2010 - 18 comments

Young + Brilliant, Blessed + Cursed
posted by Gyan on Mar 9, 2005 - 36 comments

This is the story of what happens when a naïve 15-year-old prodigy collides with an upward-reaching football program, some of whose players feel like they own the campus. Brittany Benefield started college at age 15 with the dream of finishing law school before she turned 21. Didn't quite work out that way, and hers is an amazing story. Take the time to read this, and think about it. Would you fault her parents, for letting her get into something she wasn't ready for; the university, for letting this get out of control; the football program, for running roughshod over the school; or Brittany, for her own decisions?
posted by msacheson on May 31, 2002 - 45 comments

Ever wondered what happens to kids who takes those "So you want to be a rockstar..." books seriously? Kcool 2002 - Move over Lil' Bow Wow, this 10 year old 'multi instrumental' musician is set to take over. He has the skills, the 'tude, and the um... songwriting abilities (scroll down) to take the world by storm.
posted by aki on Apr 7, 2002 - 3 comments

Boy quits school at 7, becomes MIT professor at 20. Is alternative education a good idea? This article seems much more positive than another recent boy-genius post. It appears that most reporters assume that child prodigies are antisocial and that their parents are over-ambitious (they use negatively-connotated synonyms of those terms).
posted by alex3005 on Feb 17, 2002 - 20 comments

Microsoft is hoarding child prodigies in order to breed the next Bill. You heard me.
posted by tweebiscuit on Aug 2, 2001 - 20 comments