Four-finger concert pianist

JOHN SELKIRK

ON KEY: Disabled Korean pianist Hee Ah Lee rehearses at Auckland Town Hall for her concert last night.

Relevant offers

She stands just over a metre high and has only four fingers, but Korean pianist Hee Ah Lee tours the world playing the classics.

Lee, 25, has cerebrovascular disease and was born with no legs below the knee and her hands have two fingers each.

Despite her disability, she tours the world performing demanding pieces including works by Beethoven, and Chopin's Fantasia Impromptu.

She performed piano works and sang at Auckland Town Hall last night before a crowd of 1400.

Lee said New Zealand was her second-favourite country after Canada.

In Korea, people with disabilities were still looked down upon, but she liked the way they were respected in New Zealand.

She began practising piano at age three to strengthen her fingers and it took her six years to be able to play the Chopin piece.

She now can pick up a new piece in about a year with coaching from her mother and finishing work by piano tutors.

She plays with modified foot pedals and cannot stand for too long because her "feet" are two balled protrusions below each knee.

Her Auckland performance was special, she said, because the piano had also been used by one of her idols, Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

Lee was brought to New Zealand by Korean Catholic Radio.

- © Fairfax NZ News