On 26 July 1979, Paravicini was born at the
Royal Berkshire Hospital in
Reading, He was
born extremely prematurely, at 25 weeks, along with a twin sister who did not survive birth. He was blinded by an overdose of
oxygen therapy given during his time in a
neonatal intensive care unit. This also affected his developing brain, resulting in him having a severe
learning disability. At age seven, Paravicini gave his first concert, at Tooting Leisure Centre in South London. In 1989, at the age of nine, Paravicini had his first major public concert at the
Barbican Hall in London where he played with the Royal Philharmonic Pops Orchestra. In that year, he appeared on
Wogan and was the main subject of a documentary called
Musical Savants. When he was older, he was presented with a Barnardo's Children's Champion Award by
Diana, Princess of Wales, for his performances at age seven and nine. In 2009, he was one of the subjects of the
NOVA series' episode "Musical Minds", featuring neurologist
Oliver Sacks, on
PBS. He was featured a second time by
60 Minutes on 14 March 2010. In 2009, he performed for the former
Chancellor Alistair Darling, and unexpectedly played "
Big Spender". they collaborated on a new piano concerto entitled
Blue. It was first performed in September 2011 by the
Orchestra of St John's in the
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. This is believed to be the first work for piano and orchestra ever composed for someone with learning disabilities. It was the subject of a feature on
BBC News in September 2011. On 9 March 2013, Paravicini appeared with
Adam Ockelford at TEDxWarwick. During the talk, Ockelford discussed Paravicini's amazing musical abilities, while Paravicini demonstrated them. On 27 December 2017, Paravicini was featured on an episode of
Mind Field with
Michael Stevens. The episode explored his musical ability and the science of the mind of a
savant. ==Family==