But now, seven years later, Jaroslav Novak is one of New Zealand's rising piano stars.
As he sits in his concert suit at the Steinway grand piano in Marama Hall at the University of Otago, waiting to have his picture taken, his fingers move restlessly on the black polished wood.
Whether it is nervousness because of the attention he is attracting after becoming the first New Zealander to be awarded the Fellowship Diploma of the St Cecilia School of Music, or because he is itching to play, it is hard to tell.
Born in Dunedin to a Maori mother and a Czech father, Novak said hearing a CD of Beethoven sonatas prompted him to take up the piano as a teenager.
"I thought `I could do that'. It turns out it was a little bit harder than I expected."
Beethoven is still his favourite composer - although Tchaikovsky is his favourite to play as a pianist - and he now composes his own music as well.
He premiered a piece he composed, The Paranado Suite, at his fellowship examination, the highest award offered by the St Cecilia School of Music.
St Cecilia is an Australian school of music, which was founded in Tasmania 38 years ago and began offering exams in New Zealand seven years ago.
Elizabeth Bouman, Novak's first music teacher, described him as a "once in a lifetime pupil".
"He just oozed music. He experimented, and discovered, and lapped it up. He had an insatiable desire to soak up everything I told him and he could read about music.
"Jaroslav came to me in Third Form [year 9] with a broken down piano at home. By the end of Fourth Form, he had passed his grade-eight theory."
During year 12 at Kavanagh College he gained an Associate Diploma from St Cecilia.
Despite also having an aptitude for mathematics and the sciences, he made the decision to pursue music and left school to study at the university under Prof Terence Dennis.
He is now in his final year of study as an honours student and pondering which way to go next.
St Cecilia director Matthews Tyson said: "I feel we are seeing a rising star. Jaroslav is an up-and-coming young New Zealander who has every opportunity of graduating to the world stage."
However, other opportunities also loom for the pianist, who has a business developing with the Upstart Business Incubator.
He was runner-up in the university's commerce department business creation challenge last year, which gave him the $10,000 impetus he needed to get his concept of an online music theory course "off the ground".
It is hoped the resulting company, Virtuoso Online, which also provides innovative ways for teachers to integrate technology into teaching, will go international by the end of this year.
In addition to his studies, running a business and practising up to four hours a day, Novak teaches "about half a dozen" piano students.
