Blind jazz pianist. Oleg Akkuratov is a unique blind pianist

Syncope

"But in order to know the beauty of the universe, ..
To praise God forever
Knight, I don't need the light."

P. Tchaikovsky, "Iolanta"

Syncope in music - a shift in emphasis from a strong beat to a weak beat, that is, a mismatch between a rhythmic accent and a metrical one.

Everyone who has tried to learn how to play any instrument knows perfectly well how difficult it is, and mastering the most difficult musical literature to the ear, to the touch, to memory, it seems to be a genuine feat, almost impossible.
Oleg Akkuratov is a unique blind pianist. He won great amount competitions, he accompanied an outstanding opera singer Montserrat Caballe, he perfect pitch and musical memory.
Let me remind you the materials "Blind Music". In them I talked about unexpected turn in the life of our hero, oh fateful meetings- such as Vladislav Teterin,. She immediately believed in his talent and predicted the glory of Ray Charles to the blind musician.
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Oleg recorded his first classical record in Germany at the age of 13. He is the winner of many competitions. He has such a hearing that just when they play out of tune, the guy has such agony on his face ... Oleg plays both classical and jazz, and he is a singing jazz musician. When they brought him to the conservatory, the professor said: "This is Mozart! Such people are born once in a hundred years!" It was said when he was twelve.
The amazing Armavir teachers have invested a lot in the guy, but, as always in Russia, one cannot do without those who can and want to help. Previously, such people were called philanthropists, who modestly, without PR, as they would say now, helped many talents to get on their feet. After all, you just need money for an escort ... Even to simply lead to the instrument, not to mention other things.
Vladislav Teterin:
He lived in a musical boarding school near Armavir. When I met him, he was not seven years old. A blind and retarded boy, abandoned by his parents (now they have returned to him), Oleg began to study with the best teachers. And now what? He won in Germany as a classical pianist, won a competition in Russia as a jazz pianist. He gave concerts in St. Petersburg, Moscow. In London with the great musician D. Dorelli. Where is it seen? World premiere for a world star with a fourteen year old blind boy! Now we are planning to record a CD together with Elton John. It's a huge job..."
A blind boy from Armavir, Oleg Akkuratov, found good teachers in his hometown, he came to Moscow many times to take master classes and twice went to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. By the age of 17, Oleg not only played phenomenally, but also sang beautifully, performed with Montserrat Caballe. And at the age of 19 he won the International Piano Competition in Novosibirsk - bypassed his sighted peers.


classes with conductor S.N. Proskurin
In parallel with his studies at the school, where he studied for a total of 14 years, Oleg graduated in absentia pop-jazz school and entered the music department of the Moscow University of Culture and Arts. It was planned that after graduating from school he would work here as an accompanist of the joint choir "Lark", continuing to study according to an individual program. Therefore, we decided that to patronize his further creative development there will still be the Armavir Musical School. But the young man should no longer live in a boarding school, as before, but in his own apartment, bought with the money collected by the Kuban.
Of course, it is much better to be near close person, but his relatives, having sent the child to a boarding school almost fifteen years ago, almost completely shifted the care of him onto the shoulders of the state.
President of the World of Art foundation Vladislav Teterin came up with something truly grandiose especially for the blind genius from the Kuban hinterland: on October 14, 2009, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, together with the Yuri Bashmet Orchestra and a combined choir of 815 people, he was supposed to perform Beethoven's fantasy for piano, six soloists, choir and orchestra... However, the planned triumph did not take place.
- Oleg just disappeared, did not get in touch, - explains Vladislav Mikhailovich. - I tried to call him many times, but his relatives answered: they say, Oleg is not at home. Somehow his stepmother picked up the phone and started demanding some money. So she said: "Pay, then he will come to you." We were all in shock.
True, we did not manage to talk alone: ​​relatives were constantly nearby, controlling every word of the young man. It seems that the adults have already decided everything for him. They vied with each other expressed the accumulated grievances and shared their plans. Now he belongs to his father, who exists on his pension. Oleg lives in a village near Yeysk. The relative realized that the boy promises good income, I realized many years later, without investing a single drop in the development of his talent. Now Oleg is deprived of cultural communication, which he needs so much. Now for Akkuratov they put together a jazz band in the village to earn money for a family of 8 people.
. . . . . .
dad Boris and stepmother:
- In Armavir, they probably forgot that Oleg has a family. - It was necessary not to buy an apartment there, but in Yeysk, next to us. We will change his housing, if necessary, and we will go to Moscow for him, - picks up the stepmother Marina, the mother of 3 children. found kind people they promise to help. So now, where Oleg is, we go there.
- There is nothing to show him as an orphan from Kazan, I will go to concerts myself, if necessary, I will go abroad, - says Boris. Why does he need strangers if he has a family?
. . . . . . .
Vladislav Teterin, President of the World of Art Foundation:
- For 10 years of teaching this brilliant child, I have never heard the voice of my father. And to find out that now he is Oleg's impresario was simply wild. I wanted to say in plain text, so that Oleg would definitely hear: "For dad to be your impresario, you need to speak languages, understand music, know conductors and directors of concert halls." I am glad that the boy has a family, but I'm afraid that in six months he will realize that he was left with nothing. The money from the sale of the apartment will quickly run out, and Oleg will be forced to play in a restaurant, although he is unlikely to be able to feed such a large family. Well, back to high level classical music it will be simply impossible.
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On the black and white keys of life, Oleg Akkuratov plays his bright,
unique and contradictory fate.
... This "syncope" lasted a year and a half, and I can gladly inform readers that the young man was not forgotten, not abandoned, there were musicians and patrons who were not indifferent to his fate to support the talent of the musician.
My short report:
Since September 2011, Oleg has been a student of the Rostov State Conservatory named after S.V. Rachmaninov (class of Professor V.S. Daich, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation).
In June 2011, Akkuratov took part in the international festival "Seasons", which is held annually in the Kuban. FROM chamber orchestra Mosconcert "Seasons" under the direction of the Honored Artist of Russia Vladislav Bulakhov Oleg successfully performed the concerto of W. A. ​​Mozart No. 13, which was the beginning of further creative cooperation with the team.
Another significant event for Oleg in 2013. Chairman of the jury of the "Triumph of Jazz" competition, which National artist Russian Igor Butman invited Oleg to his jazz festival.
For reference: International Festival"Triumph of Jazz" is the largest world-class jazz event in Russia. The list of festival triumphs throughout its history includes a whole kaleidoscope of names of those whom the world jazz community calls living legends: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gary Burton, Larry Corriell, Toots Tielemans, Joe Lovano, Billy Cobham, ... and hundreds more famous throughout the world. the world of musicians.

Oleg Akkuratov and Adam Teratsuyan

2014 was an amazing new year for the musician.
May 18, 2014. 7th International creative festival"Step forward!". As part of the festival, in the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic, Oleg Akkuratov and the Academic Symphony Orchestra Philharmonic (conductor Vladimir Altshuler).
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1, in B flat minor, op. 23 by P. I. Tchaikovsky

year 2014. Paralympic Games.
Under the arrangement of the Paralympic anthem performed by the blind pianist Oleg Akkuratov, the Paralympic flag descended from the flagpole.

"Play, blind, and with your music
Bring good through evil and stumbling
Give love for the joy of people,
Do not be afraid of tears, they are like a revelation.
Let your life be a night veil,
But the light inside of you is more precious than anything..."

(Yana Demidenko)

Ray Charles (full real name Raymond Charles Robinson) is an outstanding musician who has become a real legend for all connoisseurs of blues, jazz and soul music. His compositions will captivate and fascinate, his amazing voice is impossible to forget.

That is why our today's hero has been a benchmark for many, many musicians of our planet for many years in a row, as well as the number one star for all connoisseurs of quality music.

Early years, childhood and the family of Ray Charles

Ray Charles was born on September 23, 1930 in the city of Albany, located in central Georgia. His family was very poor, and therefore from the very early years great musician accustomed to lack of money and constant deprivation. Ray's father, Bailey Robinson, left the family, leaving his two sons in the care of their mother and grandmother. After that, the unlucky father practically did not take part in the life of his children, appearing in their house at most once a year.

At the age of five, another thing happened in the life of little Ray Charles. severe shock. While bathing in a tub drowned him younger brother George. The child was dying right in front of the future musician. Five-year-old Ray tried to help his brother, but he could not pull him out of the deep tub.

This event so shocked our today's hero that very soon he began to experience vision problems. Ray Charles was completely blind by the age of seven. Subsequently, the version of psychological nature The musician's blindness was the most popular among all his fans.

However, many years later, American doctors who examined the musician put forward a version that the loss of vision was due to glaucoma.

Returning to the topic of the outstanding master's childhood, we note that the upheavals in the musician's life did not end there. Already in 1945, the singer lost his mother, thus remaining in the care of an elderly grandmother.

Perhaps it was a series of life blows that laid the foundations of the famous musical style Ray Charles. Indeed, in his music there was always a lot of longing and very little joy ...

The musical career of singer Ray Charles

Show interest in music lessons our today's hero began in early age. While studying at a specialized school in the city of St. Augustine, a talented guy not only quickly mastered the Braille alphabet, but also learned to play the trombone, saxophone, piano, organ and some other instruments perfectly.

Ray Charles. One of the most popular songs.

It was from that moment that his passion for music began. After all, there was nothing else in his life, in fact.

At the age of seventeen, our today's hero moved to a large and lively Seattle, which in those days was considered the American capital. instrumental music. Here such directions as soul, blues and jazz were especially popular. That is why Ray Charles chose the state of Washington to continue his musical career.

In Seattle, our today's hero founded his first musical ensemble and soon it became quite popular in the northern United States. Famous performer Lowell Fulson invited him to work with him. Subsequently, representatives of well-known record companies also began to contact Ray Charles with proposals for long-term cooperation.

Thus, in 1949, our today's hero recorded his first full-scale hit "Confession Blues", which very soon began to sound even on the federal radio stations of America. From that moment on, Ray Charles began to frequently tour various US cities, giving small concerts and recording performances for central television.

Ray Charles - Confession Blues

In 1953, the talented black singer recorded the singles "It Should Have Been Me" and "Mess around", which three years later formed the basis of his first solo album- The Great Ray Charles.

Throughout his career, our today's hero has released more than a hundred (!) Albums, as well as official recordings of live performances. The geography of his tours stretched from the USA to Japan and from Germany to Russia. Many of his compositions - such as "Hit The Road Jack", "You Are My Sunshine", "Unchain My Heart" - became immortal hits. That is why the influence of Ray Charles on world music is very difficult to overestimate. As recognized figures of the scene note, it was the music of Ray Charles that laid the foundations for such trends as contemporary jazz, blues and even rock and R&B.

Ray Charles' awards include his own star on the Walk of Fame, as well as 17 Grammy Awards, the Order of Arts and Letters, the National Medal of Arts award, and several other awards. Currently, the name of the great musician is listed simultaneously in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Jazz Hall of Fame. Several streets in the United States and even an entire post office are named after Ray Charles.

The Last Years of Ray Charles

AT last years the artist was very ill in his life. In 2002, he began to show symptoms characteristic of liver cancer. At some point, the great musician lost the ability to walk. He was able to speak with great difficulty. However, even in spite of this, last days of his life, Ray Charles worked regularly in the studio, recording new tunes and playing keyboards for fresh compositions.

On June 10, 2004, the outstanding music master died at his home in Beverly Hills. Two months after his death, his last album, Genius Loves Company, was officially released in the United States. At the farewell concert, the musician's songs were performed by BB King, Elton John, Van Morrison and many other prominent musicians who considered themselves friends and followers of Ray Charles.

Ray Charles personal life

Despite the fact that the musician was married only twice, there were many mistresses in his life. So, it is known for certain that the mothers of his twelve children (!) Are nine (!) different women. Shortly before his death, our today's hero gave each of them one million dollars as a last gift.

The musician spent the last years of his life with a woman named Norma Pinella.

Oleg Akkuratov, whose biography will be told in this article, is a young pianist, virtuoso, laureate of prestigious competitions and festivals. genius musician blind from birth, brought up in a boarding school.

Biography

Oleg Akkuratov was born in Krasnodar Territory, in the village of Morevka, in 1989. He was raised by his grandparents, his mother was only fifteen years old. The pianist was born blind. Musical ability began to appear in the boy at the age of 4 years. His grandmother took him to an audition in Armavir, the only music boarding school in Russia for visually impaired and blind children. He was accepted there to study, and the boy left home. In Armavir, Oleg learned musical notation in Braille. At the age of 6, he already played the first concerto by P. I. Tchaikovsky, which he learned by ear from a record. Then he won his first victory in the competition. In 2008 Oleg graduated from the Moscow College of Music pop-jazz art and entered the Institute of Music.

Oleg has an excellent musical memory, he performs both classical and jazz wonderfully. For him, there are no complex works. O. Akkuratov sings well, has a pleasant lyrical baritone voice.

creative path

In 2003, while still a student, Oleg Akkuratov performed in the UK in front of the Pope. And also participated in the concert of the outstanding opera diva Montserrat Caballe.

In 2005 the young pianist performed in Moscow, St. Petersburg and London. His partners were world famous orchestras.

In 2006, Oleg showed himself as a talented vocalist, taking 1st place in the competition choirs and soloists.

In 2009, A. Akkuratov was the hero of the program "Let them talk" by A. Malakhov. Then he moved to live in Morevka, to his father and his family. Headed in the city of Yeysk jazz orchestra"MICH-band", became the soloist of the theater "Russian Opera". A concert was organized at the Moscow Conservatory, in which Oleg Akkuratov was supposed to perform. The pianist planned to perform J. S. Bach's fantasy together with a combined choir of 815 people and an orchestra. But the concert did not take place. Oleg's father, who had not previously taken any part in the fate of his son, prevented this performance.

Due to blindness, a pianist has to spend 10 or more hours a day mastering new pieces. Oleg is constantly developing and improving.

Awards

Owner a large number diplomas is Oleg Akkuratov. The blind pianist became the winner of a large number of competitions and festivals at the regional, all-Russian and international levels. He received his first diploma in 2002.

Competitions in which Oleg Akkuratov won

• "Starry youth of the planet".
• Competition for young jazz musicians.
• "Piano in jazz" (competition of young performers).
• Competition for young pianists named after K. Igumnov.
• "Orpheus".
• Competition for young composers of the Kuban and many others.

In 2001, he became a scholarship holder of the Gifted Children program.

Found family

Oleg Akkuratov, as mentioned above, was brought up with his grandmother, and then in a special music school for visually impaired and blind children. Parents did not take any part in the upbringing of the musician. A few years ago, Oleg found a father and stepmother. Also two brothers and a sister. Oleg now lives with them in Morevka. They control his entire life. Rumor has it that relatives forced the pianist to perform almost in restaurants so that he would earn money from them, since none of his family members work. His apartment, which he received from the state, is put up for sale, and the money accumulated in his account has been spent. The pianist's father is going to be his concert director, because he believes that a musician does not need strangers, although he does not have the necessary experience for this.

Concert programs

Oleg Akkuratov leads an active tour activity. He rides on different cities and also performs at prestigious venues in the capital.

Concert programs current season:

• "The saved world remembers" (evening in memory of the composer A. Eshpay);
• festival of musical humor in Chelyabinsk;
• concert with Deborah Brown;
• "Beauty Queens";
• performance with Igor Butman and his orchestra;
• musical evenings in Aramil and Yekaterinburg;
• concert with the Russian Chamber Orchestra;
• charity marathon "Flower-Semitsvetik";
• concert with Jesse Jones and others.

A landmark event, in which Oleg Akkuratov took part, is a concert " The possibilities are limited - the abilities are limitless". The pianist performed in a duet with E. Kunz. The musicians performed F. Schubert's "Fantasy" in F minor in four hands. The performance was bright and emotional. The musicians played superbly with each other and sounded like one person.

great actress

Oleg Akkuratov became the prototype of the protagonist of the film "Motley Twilight", in which actress Lyudmila Gurchenko acted as director and composer. The picture was taken in 2009. The premiere took place in Lyudmila Markovna, who loved the blind pianist very much, called him her son and did a lot for him. She attended a school in Armavir, where Oleg studied, and took part in charity concert. The great actress and the young pianist performed the songs included in the film "Motley Twilight", which at that time was still in the process of filming. A lot of people came to the concert. Lyudmila Gurchenko and Oleg Akkuratov were not allowed to leave the stage for a long time. Death great actress became a blow to the musician.

Mikhail Okun - Oleg's teacher - is seriously concerned about the future of his student.

Ray Charles Robinson (Ray Charles), American jazz and country singer, pianist, composer, one of the founders of the soul style was born in Albany, Georgia on September 23, 1930. The musician's name can serve classic example american dream. We can say that his whole life is inextricably linked with music.

His father, Bailey Robinson, was a mechanic and his mother worked at a sawmill. At the height of the Great Depression, the family moved to Gainesville, Florida. When Ray was five, his younger brother drowned in the trough his mother used to wash. A year later, Ray went blind. Glaucoma was cited as the cause, but the diagnosis was never really made. He later recalled that his mother and music saved him. From the age of three, Ray began to sing, imitating the pianist from a nearby cafe. He had a talent from God. In a boarding school for deaf and blind children, he simultaneously learned to read words and notes - in Braille. He played a variety of instruments - trumpet, clarinet, organ, saxophone and piano.

After Ray was orphaned at the age of fifteen, he formed his own country band in Florida. Then in 1948 future star succumbed to a sudden impulse, and with the collected $ 600 he went to the other end of the continent, to Seattle, where he founded the Maxim trio. During this period, Charles began using heroin.

Settling in Los Angeles in the late 1940s, he recorded his first record. Having signed a contract with the Atlantic record company, Charles released several records, two of which are the rhythm and blues "It Should've Been Me" ("It Should've Been Me") and the gospel rock "I Found a Woman" ("I Got a Woman") - hit the charts in 1954, and the singer gained fame as an innovator who transformed the melancholic gospel genre (religious hymn) into an energetic rhythm and blues. Largely thanks to Charles, a “black” rock and roll developed from the traditional blues and gospel.

In the 1950s, Charles released numerous recordings that made up the "canon" of the singer and pianist's corporate style - "Greenbacks" ("Greenbacks"), "My little girl" ("This Little Girl of Mine"), "Hallelujah, I love her "("Hallelujah I Love Her So"), "What should I say" ("What`d I Say"), etc.

Realizing that the Atlantic record label will always give preference to R$B musicians, Ray Charles decides to change the label and in 1959 signs a contract with the ABC-Paramoumt studio. And already in the early 1960s, his main soul hits were released: “Sticks and Pebbles” (“Sticks and Stones”), “Fuck off, Jack” (“Hit the Road, Jack”), “Georgia in my soul” ( "Georgia On My Mind"), "Ruby" ("Ruby").

In 1959, the song "What`d I Say" made him a star. Some radio stations took her off the air, finding Charles's voice too erotic. Soon he was performing at Carnegie Hall and jazz festival in Newport.

It was during this period that the first significant one came to him when he was chosen as the performer of the anthem of the American state of Georgia, written by Hodge Carmichael, a Broadway classic of the 30-60s. It would seem that the anthem does not mean anything but a standard patriotic outpouring of feelings. But Charles, performing "Georgia on my mind" reaches a real catharsis. "Georgia on my mind" became a worldwide hit, and the name Georgia became a fashionable female name.

Expressive cracked voice, virtuoso keyboard playing, genuine charm of a blind performer earned him love and success, both among black and white listeners at the time of the existence of rigid racial barriers in American show business.

In 1959, his famous "What'd I Say" was released, which began the history of "soul" - an inimitable combination of rock, r&b, jazz and country.

Over time, the singer's genre range expanded significantly, as his repertoire included new things from a variety of genres - from country classics to old-fashioned romantic ballads, from rock and roll to modern pop hits.

In the same golden years, Charles recorded the famous version of the Groundhogs' hit "I can't stop loving you", a little later - his unusual and mysterious variations on the Beatles "Eleanor Rigby" and "Yesterday". The same sincerity of sadness struck the Americans.

Ray Charles himself spoke more modestly about himself. “Music has been in the world for a very long time, and will be after me. I was just trying to leave my mark, to do something good in music.”

A 20-year-old musician from Japan named Nobuyuki Tsujii won the 13th international competition named after Van Cliburn among pianists.

Summary of the past US state The Texas competition would not have become such a sensation if its winner had not been blind from birth.

A blind young man from Tokyo became living proof of a miracle for several thousand people present in the hall.

Chubby boy Nobuyuki Tsujii walked to his finest hour almost as long as the 48-year-old star of The Britain`s Got Talent Susan Boyle, who in the spring of 2009 gave the Internet the illusion of a miracle.

Everyone who watched the video with the first performance of the "shaggy angel" in the show, it seemed that the moment of truth had come, and the gates of show business had finally opened up before mere mortals.

Subsequent events in the history of the little Scottish housewife, whose life circumstances plunged more than one inhabitant of our planet into tears, showed that the road to Olympus hides sharp thorns under rose petals, and everyone who dares to step on it will be stabbed and wounded by the end of the path.

Perhaps Nobuyuki Tsujii was lucky that the international show “There is talent!” (Got Talent) does not yet have an analogue on Japanese television. The path to the glory of this young man was academic, but, at the same time, sensational, write Dni.ru.

A boy who was blind from birth was given a toy piano by his mother - this is how the story of the birth of the dream and legend of Nobuyuki Tsujii begins. He mastered this fake instrument at the age of two. At the age of 12 he was a soloist on stage concert hall Suntory in Tokyo and at the same age made his debut at the famous American Carnegie Hall.

For Nobuyuki, a special memorization technique was invented instrumental works. The young man neglects the notes written in Braille for the blind and instead listens to the notes made by his teacher until he remembers everything to the smallest detail.

Recordings are not easy: the instructor plays a separate part for the left hand and separately for the right, and then plays the whole piece, but very slowly so that Nobuyuki can hear every note. A young man spends five hours a day on training, immediately after schoolwork, and eight on the days of performances.

Witnesses of his playing in Texas note that not a single rustle was heard in the hall during the performance of the blind pianist. Nobuyuki received ovation after ovation, but was genuinely surprised by his victory.

“I was amazed when I heard my name at the awards ceremony, because I didn’t even think about winning this competition,” Reuters quotes the words of a confused young man.

The news of Nobuyuki Tsujiya's triumph instantly reached his homeland: his first and so far only disc "Debut" soared to second place in the national charts and became the best-selling album ever recorded by a Japanese pianist.

“I dream that the audience would come to my concerts with the words: “I want to hear Chopin performed by Tsujiya or, for example, Beethoven performed by Tsujiya,” the musician himself admits. “In the future, I think to stop at one composer and improve in the performance of his works.”