Orthopedic surgeon Tony Cicoria shared his experience on becoming a concert pianist in a flash after a lightning bolt struck him, in an interview with Vice Media's Extremes podcast.
Cicoria shared his experience of being in a telephone booth at New York City's Sleepy Hollow Lake back in 1994. The surgeon added that he had an obsession with classical music, leading to his career in music, composing his works despite not having any prior education or experience.
"I started to have this incredible desire to hear classical music," Cicoria said, adding that he bought a CD of Vladimir Ashkenazy, a Russian classical pianist, playing a work by Chopin. He said that he started listening to the classical piece nonstop.
He also shared he had "this most incredible dream" during the time he was teaching himself how to play the piano. He recalled watching himself play on stage from a third-person perspective as if he was behind himself. He then got a teacher who taught him in the mornings before his work as a doctor. He also returned to studying late at night after spending time with his children.
Considered as an "acquired savant" or having extraordinary abilities after an injury to his central nervous system, Cicoria then learned how to play the piano and, by 2007, performed in Westport Connecticut in the debut of his first piano composition. Before this, he has already made performances on piano recitals where he played pieces from Chopin and Brahms, as well as an earlier version of his "Lightning Sonata."
He released his debut album, "Notes From an Accidental Pianist and Composer," in 2008, 14 years after his lightning accident. The New York doctor also made his public debut at the local Goodrich Theater together with the Catskill Conservatory and the SUNY at Oneonta. Cicoria's performance was covered by multiple media outlets, including British channels BBC One and Granada Media UK, and the German National Television.
'It was terrifying. I don't know how I didn't run away-I really don't. But in the end, I made it through the entire program, and that was it," Cicoria recounted.
Dr. Tony Cicoria received his bachelor's degree in Biology from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. He then went on and graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina before his stay at the University of Virginia Orthopedic Surgery Residency.
Cicoria's experience, while immensely rare, is not the only documented case of people acquiring amazing skills after severe injuries. In the late 19th century, bookseller Eadweard Muybridge fell into a cliff in his coach during his business travel in Texas. Muybridge fractured his skull against a boulder and woke up nine days later, with a significant change in behavior as well as becoming one of the pioneering figures in motion-picture projection.
Another modern case similar to Cicoria was that of Jason Padgett, a futon salesman who became a mathematician after a violent attack outside a Washington bar. The relatively average man was suddenly punched at the back of the head, causing him to fall to more vicious attacks. After he recovered, he started developing obsessions in his daily routine. He has published a book about his experience, titled "Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel."
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