An American teenager who recently moved to the Island wants to share his musical talent with his new community with a special free concert.

Alex Tuchman, 15, will give a performance at City Hall on June 7 at 7.30 p.m.

The programme will include Bach's Italian concerto, Beethoven's 13th Sonata, Chopin's Etudes, and Chopin's Third Ballade.

"We are fairly new to the Island," Alex told The Royal Gazette. "We moved down here from Florham Park, New Jersey, in late December. My father Bob Tuchman works for an insurance company."

Alex flies back to New York City for lessons every weekend. He attends the prestigious Mannes College of Music, preparatory division.

"Mannes is a selective preparatory school for those who want to go to conservatory," said Alex. "There were placement tests and an audition in order to get into the school. It is pretty difficult to get in."

The idea for the concert in Bermuda came about after a discussion with his piano teacher.

"We thought it would be a good idea to perform here because performance is good practice and good experience," said Alex. "We made some inquiries and were told that City Hall was a good venue and a good piano. I wanted to perform and have a good experience down here. We were able to get City Hall for that date."

Living in Bermuda and commuting to the United States on the weekends would make it difficult for Alex to attend regular classes, so Alex studies online through a programme called Keystone National High school.

"That is the advantage of online schooling," Alex said. "I can bring a computer down there and do my studying anywhere. If I had gone to a regular school I would have to be missing Fridays, because that is when my flight leaves.

"Online schooling really makes it possible. I started at the beginning of the school year with the online classes because we knew we would be moving to Bermuda."

Alex has been playing the piano for nine years. He was drawn to the instrument even as a young child.

"When I was little my mom found a local teacher whom I stayed with for about three years," said Alex. "Then I moved to another teacher a few towns over from us. She really did a lot for me and encouraged me to go to Mannes when the opportunity came up."

He said it hasn't been that hard adjusting to life in Bermuda, even though he is no longer in a regular high school.

"I like it a lot in Bermuda," he said. "It is not so different, besides the weather and the landscape, but it is a more relaxing environment. My whole family likes it down here very much. We are all settled in here. We came in July when we knew that it was a possibility we would be moving down here. We came just to see the Island. We started looking for houses during that trip."

Unfortunately, Alex hasn't yet met many other kids his own age with similar interests in Bermuda. Like a lot of kids his age in his situation, one of his goals is to make new friends.

Recently, there has been a lot of talk in the news about today's kids being over-scheduled and over stressed. Alex's father, Mr. Tuchman, said this is one of the things he and his wife, Carolyn, worry about.

"Alex is a wonderful child who strives for excellence in everything he does," said Mr. Tuchman. "He was valedictorian for his eighth grade graduation. He went on to attend the Delbarton School, a very prestigious and demanding private school in New Jersey. While there he was accepted into the Mannes School of Music Honours Program. He has outstanding grades."

Alex also placed third in the prestigious Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition held at the University of Radford in Radford, Virginia. He was ten years old.

But Alex's father said, despite all the success, Alex was miserable.

"There just wasn't enough hours in the day to maintain this level of achievement," Mr. Tuchman said. "It was clear to us that his love and passion was music and, before accepting my position at Aeolus Re Ltd., after much discussion with Alex, we decided to lighten his school load by withdrawing from Delbarton and enrolling him in the less demanding public school system.

"Many of our friends cannot understand how we could have made this decision, foregoing an almost certain admission to a top university. Yet, our goal for our children is simple, we want to give them every opportunity to pursue their dreams and to find happiness and fulfilment."

Mr. Tuchman said when the decision was made to move to Bermuda, they decided to enroll Alex in an online programme so he could focus more on his music. Alex dreams of one day becoming a concert pianist and playing at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. He would like to play piano concertos and chamber music.

"In spite of travelling back to New York every week for his piano lessons and music school (his choice), we have never seen him happier and his piano teacher recently commented that it shows in his playing," said Mr. Tuchman.

"While Alex may never get to perform at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, we believe that music will always be an important part of his life.

"If he decides to pursue another path as he gets older, we are confident that he has the intellect and discipline to succeed at whatever he may choose, and, of course, he will have our support."

The concert at City Hall will be free to the public.

"I love music, and I love performance," said Alex. "I hope this will be a good experience and for me and anyone who can come that night."