The young virtuoso pianist Jan Lisiecki

When Jan Lisiecki plays the piano, he sounds like a virtuoso with decades of experience. He fills concert halls all over the world, wins prestigious awards and is celebrated by the international press. The New York Times has called his playing "flawless, lyrical and intelligent”. How can we explain the "mature" interpretations of this young pianist, born in 1995? What makes him special as a person and a musician? What is the secret of his early success?

Arts.21 caught up with Jan Liesicki at a music festival on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea. Between walks on the beach and visits to the concert stage, he talked about his love of music, his immense work ethic, and his childhood. He also spoke of the people who ground him, especially his parents, who immigrated to Canada from Poland a few years before he was born and still accompany him on most concert tours.

For him, playing the piano unlocks an "infinite spectrum of joy, pain and suffering and all human emotions", which may be one explanation for his sophisticated playing.