This 10-year-old prodigy could be the next Chopin
Playing catch with his dad in the back garden, Alasdair Howell might appear like any other 10-year-old boy.
But the hands he is using to throw the ball, could one day be worth millions.
Howell began playing the piano when he was just three years old and was performing at London’s prestigious Royal Festival Hall at six. And now, he has just been named by celebrity pianist Lang Lang as a future star. 
“It’s a hobby, but I like it very much and I think it’s just part of me,”
Said Howell, who practices on the piano for up to two hours daily.
Howell’s future lies literally in his own hands – and that means taking care of them, even when playing in the garden. While his hands are not insured – yet – his parents are worried about his hands and keep telling him to be careful. 
However it is not just his hands that are feeling the pressure. There are other side effects of being a child star too.
As Lang Lang – a child prodigy himself, with his first public recital at five – explains,
“Once you are a child prodigy, that means that your parents and your teachers will probably put more attention on you than on the other kids. It’s a good thing, but it also creates the pressure.”
Today, Lang Lang has become a global superstar and has even performed at the Beijing Olympics. The virtuoso is one of the few classical artists of our time who can fill concert halls around the world, and has performed with the best orchestras. 
As for Howell, perhaps the world’s next biggest pianist, it is as his father puts it,
“I think how far Alasdair goes is really going to be up to Alasdair”.
(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)
