Blind Mexican girl with Down Syndrome is now acclaimed pianist

By Vladimir Sanchez Cuautla — Isaura Margarita Porras was born blind and with Down Syndrome in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Doctors were clear with her parents from the very start: she would not talk, walk or be able to learn anything. Today, however, she is an international concert pianist.

She has offered three concerts in Costa Rice and has a musical repertoire that includes pieces by Mozart, Schumann and Chopin, as well as iconic pieces from Mexican culture such as “Cielito lindo,” by composer Quirino Mendoza y Cortes.

Her mother, Imelda Cruz, told EFE that she made a considerable effort to ensure that her daughter, who is now 34, could achieve her dream.

Isaura has Trisomy 21, a chromosome anomaly that causes Down Syndrome in more than 90 percent of the cases where it appears.

“When she was very small, her father bought her a keyboard and she played it with two fingers. We came to Cuautla, in Morelos state, and began to look for a teacher to see if they could continue giving her classes to see if she could learn to play,” her mother said.

Many years later, after knocking fruitlessly on many doors to see if her daughter could learn to play, the family met concert pianist Nadia Arce, whose playing fascinated them, when she was giving a recital at a shopping mall.

They decided to ask her if she could teach Isaura to play the piano. She agreed and the girl began working with a teacher who significantly changed her life and charted her career.

“She gives classes up until the present day. She doesn’t live here and (gives the classes) via Skype,” said Imelda.

In an interview with EFE, Nadia Arce said that “it was fantastic” to be able to teach Isaura “because I never took courses in musical pedagogy.”

Since there was no Braille music reading system, they had to make accommodations and invent a way that Isaura could “feel the texture and identify the musical notes.”

Arce said that love and passion for what they’re doing is essential in helping children with difficulties achieve their dreams. “Above all, they have to have love inside themselves,” she said.

“I’ve had marvelous experiences with children: epileptic attacks, a deaf-mute boy; I’ve had students with different special characteristics,” she said.

Although no precise figures exist, in Mexico there is approximately one case of Down Syndrome per 650 births, but among women over 50 the figure is one per 42 births.

Imelda said that her daughter “has exceeded all expectations that one can have.”

Isaura graduated with a degree in music from the Autonomous University of Morelos and in August she will travel to Colombia to perform in the first “Pianothon,” scheduled for Aug. 22-23 in the city of Medellin.