Seven Swiss child prodigies
They solve complex mathematics formulas, play the violin or dance on Broadway: these are Switzerland’s young geniuses.
“Doing nothing at all for several hours is not my thing,” says maths genius Maximilian Janisch as he programmes a game on his mobile phone on the beach. At the age of nine, the highly gifted student completed his mathematics A-levels. Today, at 19, he is Switzerland’s youngest doctoral student.
Thierry Bouvard communicates through paintings
When Thierry Bouvard was around three years old, his parents learned that he was autistic. He never learned to speak. Instead, Thierry started painting at the age of six and has been expressing himself through his artwork ever since. In his first paintings, he was already drawing houses, trees and streets using great detail and with perspective. His paintings combine the finest strokes to form coloured areas that produce almost an impressionistic result. Bouvard gets his inspiration from photographs, postcards and from pictures from the internet.
Giuseppe Bausilio dances under the Broadway lights
At the age of twelve, Giuseppe Bausilio was already dancing on Broadway as the lead in the musical Billy Elliot. At just four-years-old, Bausilio began dancing at his parents’ ballet school in Bern.
The story of how he came to the Broadway stage is like something out of a film: he was discovered by chance when he took part in a ballet competition in New York.
13 years after starring in his first Broadway production, he speaks to the Swiss public television, SRF about his experiences. “A lot has happened since Billy Elliot,” he says. His first production was followed by five more Broadway shows – including Cats, where he appeared alongside Leona Lewis.
Äneas Humm: a baritone prodigy
Äneas Humm, originally from Zurich, discovered his love of classical singing at a young age and was celebrated early on as a child prodigy. His baritone voice brought the now 28-year-old to big stages in Germany, the Netherlands and the USA. Humm has had impressive performances in Switzerland singing in the opera production, The Magic Flute, in which he appeared as Papageno.
Sisters Bomi and Hani Song impress on the violin
The Song sisters, Bomi and Hani, impressed professional musicians early on with their aptitude on the violin. Bomi song, the elder sister, could play classical violin pieces by heart, having memorised them in a short amount of time. The sisters also impressed teachers at school with their level of comprehension.
Bomi tells SRF that as highly gifted children they were often labelled. One of the common misconceptions they faced was that their Korean parents pushed them to excel. “Our parents didn’t push us, we wanted to practise,” they tell SRF.
Martina Hingis: women’s tennis youngest No. 1
She is a globally recognised tennis star: at the age of 16, Martina Hingis was the youngest tennis player to win the Australian Open. She occupied the top spot in the world rankings for an impressive total of 209 weeks.
However, this child prodigy’s name is also associated with doping allegations and a strict mother who paved the way for Hingis’ career. Now, for the first time, an SRF documentary sheds light on the turbulent career of the now 42-year-old and looks at what happens behind the scenes and off the court.
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