From Colorado comes the story of a child prodigy pianist whose career was kick-started by a jaw-dropping donation from a complete stranger.
Brought to us via CBS News “On the Road” with Steve Hartman, the story began on the mock ebony and ivory of an unused electric keyboard forgotten in a basement 5 years ago.
It was found, one fateful day, but Jude Kofie, then a tender 9 years old and son of Ghanaian immigrant and father of 4, Isiah. This autistic boy put his hands on the keys and was changed forever; a Mozart-savant style talent had lain hidden his whole life.
As Jude began to express his “miracle” talent, he made the headlines of the local paper in Aurora, which is where Bill Magnuson, a local piano tuner, first read about the boy. Intrigued, the piano lover came to a talent show and saw first hand what Jude could do.
“He’s beyond special,” Magnuson told Hartman in an interview. “He’s Mozart level. It’s coming from somewhere beyond.”
Hearing of his father Isiah’s life story as an immigrant who raises 4 children and routinely sends remittances to family in Ghana was all Magnuson needed to convince himself to make a big decision—a $15,000 decision.
One day, without warning, a truck pulled up to the Kofie household, followed by a knock on the door.
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Magnuson had spent a good chunk of his family inheritance to buy a brand new grand piano for Jude.
“[For] somebody to just love your son like that by making sure that his future is secured, we are super thankful,” Isiah said, wiping tears from his eyes.
The piano also came with a lifetime of tuning services provided by theirs truly, and a program of professional lessons, which have transformed Jude from a 9-year-old prodigy to a 14-year-old touring maestro with his own album, Introducing: Jude Kofie.
None of it would have been possible, one can’t help feeling, without the costly intervention of a total stranger; someone who, as Hartman concluded “isn’t a stranger anymore.”
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