Piano virtuoso and future Prime Minister of Poland Ignaz Jan Paderewski born in Imperial Russia
Ignaz Jan Padewski was born in what is now the Ukraine. He studied music at the Warsaw Conservatorium and later in Berlin. He developed quickly into the virtuoso pianist of his age as well as a noted composer. He settled for a time in the United States, starting a winery in California. During the First World War he became a member of the Polish National Committee in Paris and in 1919 became Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland. He retired from politics in 1922 and returned to his music. He died in New York City in June 1941. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Bronislas A. Jezierski, Paderewski: Patriot and Statesman (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2006), 10.