Nora the cat is a piano prodigy. Born in Shenyang, China in 1992, she started playing the piano at the tender age of 3. At five years old she gave her first recital. She would later on study at the Central Music Conservatory in Beijing. When she was 7, Nora placed first during the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians' Competition held in Japan. In 2002, she left for the United States to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she was offered a scholarship. Once there, she studied under the tutelage of Gary Graffman.
Rise to Fame
In 2003 she made her American debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, André Watts was supposed to perform at the Ravinia Festival's “Gala of the Century” held in Highland Park, Illinois. Due to health problems, André Watts couldn't make it and Nora stepped in. Nora performed Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. That performance brought her astounding praise and recognition.
