From the time he could walk, Marcos Bocanegra of Temecula, California has been focused on honing his skills at the keyboard.
The twenty-year-old now works at Cosco and has very practical designs on becoming a police officer to support his family someday, yet it’s his creative passion that recently landed him in the spotlight where he belongs. It all started when Marcos shared a video of himself playing the piano at work to his Twitter account.
Twitter
“I love playing on the pianos that come into Costco,” Marcos wrote with his tweet. In the clip, the talented young man shows off skills that are so impressive you might think he’d had years of lessons to accrue, yet Marcos’ skills are entirely self-taught. Growing up, Marcos spent every moment he could at the piano creating his own compositions and dreaming of someday scoring movie soundtracks like his hero, Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer.
Instagram
With two supportive parents behind him Marcos was able to purchase a baby grand piano for the family home. He was working at the tire center at his local Cosco and making monthly payments on his pricey instrument when he posted the Twitter video that would turn out to be his big break.
As soon as Marcos’ video hit the web it went viral, racking up millions of views and catching the attention of Ellen DeGeneres, who asked him to appear on her show. Marcos must have felt like he’d been handed the most amazing gift of his life when he and his parents went to Santa Monica to meet Ellen that day!
Instagram
On Ellen’s show Marcos chatted with the host about his impressive skills, sharing once more that Hans Zimmer is the ultimate hero in his world. For those who don’t keep up with their Hollywood music composers, Hans is the creative genius who wrote the soundtracks for movies like “The Dark Knight,” “The Lion King,” and “Interstellar.”
When it came time to perform, naturally Marcos decided to play one of Hans’ own songs, “Time” from the movie “Inception.” True to form, Marcos’ playing sounded truly beautiful as his fingers flew deftly over the keyboard.
YouTube
After he’d finished his performance Ellen had a few surprises up her sleeve. First, with help from corporate sponsor Shutterfly she produced a giant check for the hardworking young man: $3,982.92, the exact amount needed to pay off the baby grand piano he’d been working so hard to buy!
As if that wasn’t wonderful enough, Ellen then sprung a real treat for the delighted Marcos. Turning his attention to a video screen Marcos was treated to a video message from none other than Hans Zimmer himself. The look on Marcos’ face says it all!
“I’m totally blown away by your playing and I hear you’re really into film score so why don’t you come down to my studio and hang out and we can jam and maybe come up with something cool,” Hans told Marcos in the video.
YouTube
Marcos can’t wait to plan his visit to see his idol, and it’s all thanks to one little video clip that he shared with the world. It’s fantastic to see talented people who’ve already achieved so much on their own get some recognition. We hope to see (and hear!) much more from Marcos as his career takes off in Hollywood.
Watch Marcos’ overjoyed reaction to seeing his idol in the video below, and don’t forget to share.
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