So many of us remember those days sitting at a piano, where our legs would swing freely in front of the bench because they were just too short to reach the floor.

Little, pudgy fingers would cautiously press on the piano keys, halting for seconds, and sometimes even minutes between chords. Looks of extreme concentration would adorn our faces as we struggled with figuring out the notes on the printed page of the music in front of us.

For most, learning how to play the piano is a challenge: a test of the connectivity of the mind with the physical actions of the hands and fingers. It requires one to think on many levels at the same time and to transfer knowledge instantaneously to produce the desired results the right notes being played, with the right fingers, at the right time, with the right type of musical volume and sensitivity. Not an easy task.

If one can get through those tough beginning years, playing the piano can be incredibly rewarding and something you can enjoy your entire life. But many fall by the wayside.

As life gets busy and practice becomes hard, most budding young pianists leave the piano keyboard behind to become active in sports, ballet, theater and even the high school band anything that can take them out of that lonely practice room and into an activity that involves other people.

For a special few, however, playing the piano comes easy. It is as if they had been born with the knowledge and skills firmly imbedded in their minds and hands. They look at a complex chord and their little fingers fly over the keys none of this stopping and starting for them.

That is the case for piano prodigy, Conrad Tao, soloist with the Allentown Symphony for our season opening concerts, 8 p.m. Oct. 6 and 3 p.m. Oct. 7, Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown.

Conrad's parents discovered him plucking out Chinese children's songs at the piano at the age of 18 months. He gave his first piano recital at the age of 4. That is when most of the rest of us began pounding out "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." His first solo concerto performance was at the age of 8, and he hasn't stopped since.

Conrad Tao is now 18-years-old. In the last few years, he has received many outstanding honors and awards. In 2011, he was a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and received a YoungArts gold medal in music from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts.

That same year, he was named a Gilmore Young Artist, which is an award given to the most promising American pianist of the next generation. Then to cap it off, in May 2012, he received the prestigious Avery Fischer Career Grant Award. Pretty amazing things to have accomplished when you are just turning 18-year-old.

What makes Conrad's career even more incredible is that in addition to being one of the best young pianists in the United States and the world, he is also equally talented as a violinist and composer. He has received numerous ASCAP awards for his compositions, and was featured as the solo violinist with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra a few years ago in the Lehigh Valley.

As a conductor, I am very excited to work with Conrad Tao because a talent like his is very rare. With the Allentown Symphony, he will be performing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, which is one of the most difficult piano concertos to play. Some of you might remember this concerto from the 1996 movie, "Shine," where the main character plays this dramatic piece in a competition. The shear number of notes that the soloist must navigate and perform is amazing. It is a romantic, powerful and virtuosic concerto that allows the soloist to "shine."

Having the opportunity to hear prodigy pianist, Conrad Tao, perform live here in the Lehigh Valley, without having to drive to New York, or having to fly to some other city, is wonderful for all of us. Mark your calendars now so that you can later say, "I heard Conrad Tao when he was just 18-years-old."

It will be a concert you won't want to miss.

Diane Wittry is Music Director and Conductor of the Allentown Symphony and Artistic Director (USA) of the International Cultural Exchange Program with the Sarajevo Philharmonic, Bosnia.

Allentown Symphony concerts ticket information: 610-432-6715, AllentownSymphony.org