How do you get to Carnegie Hall? In a car seat.

Four-year-old pianist Michael Girgis takes his talents to Carnegie Hall on Sunday before making the trek back to the storied music hall in July as one of the winners of two separate prestigious competitions.

The precocious pianist, not yet enrolled in preschool, is an eager learner, his parents say.

“He had a lesson today in the morning and said, ‘Can we do something else? Can we learn a new song?” said Michael’s mother, Yulia Tsaturova.

Michael began playing at just 3 1/2 years old, learning to read sheet music before he could read books.

“I saw my sister play,” Michael said. His parents elaborated: The youngest of four children, Michael used to watch his older sisters practicing piano at home. Eventually, he scrambled up on the bench, hoping to join in. Soon, he was tinkering with the keys, playing songs by ear thanks to his perfect pitch.

Michael at the keys is at his happiest, said his father, Magdy Girgis.

His “whole mood changes” Girgis said. “He’s feeling it. It’s not like you can force a 4-year-old [to play]. It’s fun and joy, just like when he goes and plays with his toys.”

Elena Ayanyan, a Rockville-based music teacher, normally doesn’t take students under 6. Michael’s parents, too, were in no rush to enroll their 3 1/2-year-old in lessons. How could he focus for 40 minutes? But Michael insisted, they said.

“He won’t sit for hours, he will sit down and practice a little bit, get up and then come back and practice,” Tsaturova said. “He will do that two, three times a day.

“He’s a boy,” she added with a laugh.

Michael does normal kid things. He likes dinosaurs, soccer, basketball and showing off his little Crocs that look like yellow taxicabs and a plush sloth he named Mr. Geese.

He takes naps.

But, when it comes to piano, Michael isn’t kidding around.

Was it hard to learn the instrument? “No,” he said.

“It’s an easy song,” he later added, referencing one of the tunes he performed at home from memory.

Tiny fingers

In the nine months Michael has been learning piano, he’s collected a number of accolades, including first place in the two competitions hosting recitals for winners at Carnegie Hall this spring and summer: the 2026 American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition on Sunday and the New York Select Auditions on July 14.

There’s a difference between commercial music competitions, which can veer into the pay-to-play arena, and more prestigious ones, including the two that Michael will perform for at Carnegie Hall, Ayanyan said. He’ll be among the youngest ever to perform at the famous venue.

She doesn’t submit all her students for such competitions, but Michael was an easy yes.

“He’s talented, he was ready and he demonstrated that he can try,” Ayanyan said.

At 3 feet, 4 inches, Michael is her smallest student. That brings its own challenges. He has to move his fingers more quickly because they can cover only so much ground on the keyboard. Some notes require Michael’s entire wingspan to reach. He sits on a small box covered in music notes atop the piano bench. And not only do his feet not reach the pedals, they fall just short of reaching the pedal extenders made for shorter pianists.

But that doesn’t stop him from playing well above his age level.

“I practice these all the time,“ Michael said, his little fingers pitter-pattering across the piano as he explained the differences in “flat, sharp and regular” keys.

With a November birthday, Michael isn’t due to start preschool until fall 2027. His parents haven’t decided if they’ll enroll him in Montgomery County Public Schools or homeschool him, which would allow more time for piano practice.

“We’ll go with him, as long as he wants to play,” Tsaturova said. “We want him to be an inspiration to others. I believe every child has a talent of some sort. It’s just how we can enrich it and nourish it.”