London, October 8 A 10-year-old British schoolboy has been predicted to be the new Mozart after he displayed his genius with just four months of formal piano lessons.

Shane Thomas, who put his fingers on a piano at the age of seven, rehearses for just four hours a week but already exhibits high standards of music scores.

The talented youngster's piano tutor, Richard Goffin-Lecar, hailed him as the new Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the prolific and influential classical composer who showed prodigious ability during his childhood in 18th century.

"Shane is unique. He takes the word gifted to another dimension," the Telegraph quoted Goffin-Lecar as saying.

"Many would consider it pretentious to compare him with Mozart but if one were to listen to him play, one would know it was legitimate.

"I did not so much teach him as give him direction then sit back and watch. Technically he is phenomenal," he added.

Nicolas Chisholm, head of the renowned Yehudi Menuhin Music School in Surrey, agreed, saying: "Shane is extraordinary but an embryonic talent."

Shane said: "I told Dad when I was three that I could play but nobody took me seriously. When I'm at school I can listen to the teacher and do my work while composing in my head.

"I remember the melodies, then when I get home I play them on the piano and Dad records them. I love playing piano. When I grow up I want to be a piano composer." (ANI)