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Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2000
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Stanislaw Drzewiecki, 13, Polish pianist
By TADEUSZ L. KUCHARSKI Radosc
 The Silesian Tribune, one of Poland's largest dailies, called him the Polish Mozart, the weekly newspaper Angora labeled him the miracle of nature and the professional fortnightly Musical Movement said he was an "infant prodigy." He is 13-year-old Stanislaw Drzewiecki, son of two distinguished concert pianists, the Pole Jaroslaw Drzewiecki and Russian Tatiana Shebanova.
Drzewiecki started to play the piano when he was four. A year later he began musical composition classes and made his solo debut in the Grand Hall of Moscow's Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Does the prodigy consider himself a modern-day Mozart? "I am myself," he says. "In music one should strive after perfection, even if one never achieves it."
Drzewiecki's schedule is tough for a 13-year-old. He practices four hours a day and, except during school hours, rarely relaxes with friends. He makes a few concessions to frivolity. A Ping-Pong table has a central position in the sitting room of his family's cozy home in suburban Radosc, 20 km east of Warsaw. "My childhood has been very interesting," he says. "I have visited 17 foreign countries, I've written two books and I'm working on a third, I play Ping-Pong and ride my mountain bike. I also like skiing and skating." He is also a dedicated model airplane builder. "I already have 53 airplanes, but I'd love to assemble one that flies by remote control," he says. In his spare time, Drzewiecki also paints landscapes and composes his own music.
He still studies music in Warsaw under the tutelage of his mother, who also manages his career. "I regularly perform with the Warsaw Philharmonic," he says, "but my greatest dream is to go back to London again and play in the Wigmore Hall."
Nominate your own Person to Watch — As part of TIME's Fast Forward Europe special issue, we are scouring the continent to find the people who will be shaping the future. E-mail us at mail@timeatlantic.com and let us know who you think tomorrow's movers and shakers will be — who knows, maybe they will end up in the pages of TIME Magazine or on timeeurope.com!
Check out timeeurope.com for more Fast Forward Europe stories in the days and weeks to come. Our Fast Forward coverage culminates in a year-end special issue and website to be published on December 14
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