Even with international success, Overland Park is just right for this teenage piano phenom

Overland Park native Eddison Chen, who just turned 14, is racking up awards at some of the most elite national and international piano competitions. Classical KC speaks with Chen and his mother about competitions, his first exposure to the piano, having perfect pitch and performing on NPR's prestigious From the Top program.
When he was just eight years old, Eddison Chen started bringing home medals from competitions. At 13, he was a quarterfinalist at the prestigious International Van Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival — the most elite competition of its type in the United States.

Now, at 14, he's earned a fellowship with NPR's highly selective From the Top program.

He was first exposed to the piano when he was four years old, thanks to his grandmother. And it was immediately second nature. "I'm not sure I remember learning music, how to read music," he says.

His mother, Xinyan Bai, a Kansas City-based scientist, recalls this moment and discovering that Eddison has perfect pitch. "I think it was during Thanksgiving," she explains, "his grandma just learned maybe like a very simple song and whatever his grandma played on the keyboard, he can go and repeat it."