Hunter Gifford, 16, started playing the piano at age 11.
After receiving a handful of lessons, his mother gave him a
Jon Schmidt CD, thinking he'd like his music. A day or two later, he asked his mom to come to his room to show
her something. He sat down at his keyboard and started playing Jon Schmidt's
"Waterfall". In shock, she asked how he learned it.
He simply replied, "I listened to it over and over again and just figured it out." He hasn't stopped playing since.
Hunter began writing his own compositions at age 11. One of his recent songs was
written in memory of his little cousin Emily, who passed away just before her 2nd
birthday because of complications from
Pearson's Syndrome.
This piece is called "Emily's Song." Another of his songs,
"Freedom's Run,"
won second place in State for the 2009/2010 Inspirations Contest. One of his other recent compositions is a song
he wrote in honor of his baby sister (now two years old). It is entitled, "Grace's Lullaby".
While listening to Hunter play in his
studio,
singer/song-writer, John Houston, said of Hunter, “You can tell he plays from the inside out.”
Hunter played two summers ago for the
Utah County Fair ,
where he was heard by Stacy Martineau of Pleasant Grove's Arts Commission. Impressed with what she heard, she asked
him to come play at the
Heritage Festival in
Pleasant Grove. She commented,
"He's amazing. I'm so glad I was walking by and heard him. He's just what we need." This seems to be the trend.
In the Spring of 2010 Hunter was playing at the
Covey Center for the Arts
for
Reagan Academy's Student Art Show, and was heard
by Naomi White of the Utah County Art Board. Afterward, she asked him to play for the Freedom Festival Children's Art Show
Reception and Awards Ceremony.
Hunter loves to share his music and thoroughly enjoyed participating in the
Art City Music Fest
for the past three years. All three times, He met with other musicians
in the morning, where they wrote songs and performed them at a concert later that
night. His heartfelt performances at the last three Art City Talent Festivals
thrilled the audiences. His
2011 performance was dedicated to his grandfather who
passed away May 29th. Audience response demanded an encore, which he gladly performed. An
article in the Daily Herald recently featured Hunter in reference to this performance.
Hunter is the oldest of six siblings and lives in
Springville, Utah. When Hunter
isn't playing the piano he usually enjoys martial arts, anything Chinese, especially
Chinese food (both making and eating it!), drawing, creating and
rendering 3D digital media with
Blender, writing, listening to music,
and making his baby sister laugh. He currently attends 10th grade at
Merit Academy,
where he has played at many assemblies, concerts, and events.
If you would like to schedule Hunter to play at your event, email us
here
