The question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” is being subverted by Simon Tedeschi. The Australian pianist achieved success in his career by the remarkable age of eight. Now, however, he’s decided to go back-to-basics by embracing his inner child.

Tedeschi’s upcoming show Pianist and Prankster is aimed at youngsters, and it’s clear from his contagious enthusiasm that the celebrated pianist is thoroughly enjoying the project. “It came about as a ‘spin-off’ of sorts from ‘Meeting Mozart,’ a show written by myself and Eva and Tim, the latter two comprising ‘Monkey Baa.’ For a start, we enjoyed working with each other so much on an interpersonal level. Also, in the process of the Mozart show, I shared a lot about my rather unconventional musical upbringing with them and also pulled heaps of pranks on the entire cast and crew.”

From that spark, the project took on its own life. Aimed at 6 – 12 year-olds, the collaboration was “inevitable”, and from the start the show grew organically. Tedeschi admits “the only trouble has been writing the script – every time we get together, all we want to do is share...