When young Aleksandr Voinov of Franklin Park sits on the piano bench for his "From the Top" performance tonight at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland, it will be in front of an instrument he has only recently met. At home, the story isn't much different. In December, the 14-year-old pianist known as Sasha won a competition whose first prize was a new grand piano.

The contest run by Sonny's Piano TV in Long Island, N.Y., was not your typical classical-music competition. It was entirely based on contestants' YouTube videos, with online voters making the final call.

"The contest ran for several weeks, and Sasha's video was competing neck-and-neck with another video, often changing leads a few times a day," says his father, Vlad Voinov.

"I was most nervous during the morning of the last day of the competition; we were down by around 70 votes," Sasha says. "After an intense day of getting anyone we could to support me online and running around Wi-Fi cafes and office buildings trying to get votes, we eventually caught up and after 8 p.m. started to pull away."

Sasha was born in England to Russian parents who moved to Franklin Park when he was 2. He began playing piano at 5 and later attended the City Music Center at Duquesne studying with Natasha Snitkovsky.

"He has the rare combination of pianistic hands, fantastic musical memory and ears. [and a] very quick and intelligent mind," says Mrs. Snitkovsky. He has a flair for theatrics, too. Performing a work he composed, "Fantasy on 'Frosty the Snowman,' " Sasha dressed in a white suit with bright red cooking mittens on his hands before he played.

"Sasha is a born performer and entertainer who is passionate to share music with people," she says.

And now he can share it on a new grand.