If you didn’t watch this video with your eyes — but only listened with your ears — you’d never know it was being performed by a 9-year-old girl. When it comes to playing the harp, Alisa Sadikova is a child prodigy. She took the stage on December 12, 2012 at the XIII International Winter Festival at the Small Hall of the St. Petersburg Philarmonia, and performed a piece of music that can only be described in one word: heavenly.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “When Olga Shevelevich heard five-year-old Alisa Sadikova play the harp six years ago, she knew she was in front of something extraordinary. It was the first time the young girl had ever held a musical instrument and she was playing a piece that Shevelevich, a harpist and family friend, had taught her on the spot. ‘I was struck with awe,’ says Shevelevich who is now one of Sadikova’s music teachers. ‘I’m still struck with awe every time I hear her play. Only a genius can do what she does.'”
The winner of the Award of 2012 of maestro Temirkanov, the scholar of the fund of maestro Vladimir Spivakov, three times winner of international competitions and the participant of two World Harp Congresses Alisa Sadikova was born on March 30, 2003 in St. Petersburg, Russia. I started teaching Alisa when she was 5 and a half years old and continue to help her with practice until now. By the age of 14, under my tutelage she quickly went through all seven levels of my method and became famous as a great professional harpist. You can follow her musical advancement in the videos here. All videos presented on my site are the result of our joint work with Alisa. Many of the videos are recorded during our practice at my home.