David Helfgott

About

David Helfgott is a classical pianist from Melbourne, Australia who was recognized as a child prodigy when he first sat down at a piano when he was five years old. After winning the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition six different times, he earned a scholarship for the Royal College of Music in London. Due to mental illness, he returned to Australia to undergo psychiatric treatment. A decade later he emerged with the same vigor for music and has since been both critiqued as an erratic performer and praised as an unsung genius.