Blind South Korean preschooler is piano prodigy

By Sophia Soo

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - Yoo Ye-eun is only five years old, but the South Korean preschooler is already a musical star who has mastered the piano, even though she cannot see it.

Born blind, Yoo has had no formal musical training. But her little fingers find the right notes on the piano, earning her renown at home and over the Internet, as well as an audience last week with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Abandoned at birth, Yoo was adopted by a wheel-chair bound man and his infertile wife in South Korea, where her story and talent have made her a household name.

Her family say she was given an old piano by a neighbor and at the age of three, surprised her parents by suddenly playing a Korean song that her mother loved to sing.

Her parents then started playing different pieces of music for her from the Internet, and said they were shocked to discover that she could play every tune after hearing it.

"I got goose bumps, because she never had any music lessons from anybody. She is blind and was just a three-year-old baby. How could she find the keyboard and play the melody?" her mother, Park Jeong-soon, told Reuters.

Yoo has appeared on the popular "Star King" Korean television talent show and won the three million won ($3,900) cash prize.

Her performance, which was posted on a Korean-based video sharing website, has attracted more than 27.5 million hits as well as over two million viewings on Youtube.

For the Singapore banquet, Yoo performed a piece by classical composer Frederic Chopin, drawing huge applause.

When asked what she wanted to be when she grows up, the nursery school student replied: "A pianist. A great pianist".

(Editing by Miral Fahmy and Jon Herskovitz)