Pianist on the rise
The story goes like this: When Charlie Albright was a mere 3 years old, he climbed atop the family piano and began tapping out “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Whether the story’s true, or just a mother’s loving exaggeration, the Centralia, Wash., native had an early ear for music to be sure. His mother enrolled him in music classes immediately, where he played by ear before training classically at age 7. But this piano virtuoso is no one-trick pony. By the time Albright graduated high school, he’d earned an associate’s degree in science. “In looking at colleges,” he said, “I wanted to continue music and also continue academics.” Harvard’s joint program with nearby New England Conservatory appealed to Albright, a pre-med and economics concentrator who will receive a master’s of music in piano performance from the conservatory in 2012. “If I could do anything, I’d do music,” said Albright, who released his first album, “Vivace,”...