Alexey Viktorovich Zimakov was born on January 3, 1971. in the Siberian city of Tomsk. He is an outstanding Russian guitar player. A brilliant performer, a stunning virtuoso. It has extraordinary musicality, inaccessible technique and purity of performance. Received recognition in Russia and abroad.
In his 20 years he became the winner of prestigious All-Russian and international competitions. This is the rarest case of such an early ascent of the domestic guitarist to Olympus of musical art. At the peak of his fame, he was the only one to achieve the masterly performance of some incredibly complex works. When Alexey was 16 years old, he struck the musical public with his cosmic performance technique in his own virtuoso transcription from a p and p and n n music. He achieved a new sound of the guitar, close to the orchestral one, comparable to it.
Isn't it a miracle that at such an early age he brilliantly performed in his own interpretation, arranged for guitar and piano, the Campanella rondo-finale and the Second Violin Concerto by Paganini !!! The recording of this wonderful concert was shown on Tomsk television in the late 80s ...
Teaching Alexey to play the guitar was started by his father, Viktor Ivanovich. Tell me honestly, you would probably be surprised a lot if someone told you that the first teacher of Alexei was the commander of a nuclear submarine of the Russian naval forces. Yes, you heard right. Indeed, the boy’s father spent many years under water on full alert. It was there, in his "Nautilus", in rare moments of rest, Viktor Ivanovich played the guitar. If the echo-sounders of anti-submarine ships of the enemy could listen to what is happening on Russian submarines, then it is not difficult to imagine the amazement and surprise of the acoustic acoustics of the guitar sounds heard by the enemy.
It will probably be interesting for you to know that after completing the naval service, having changed his military uniform for civilian clothes, Viktor Ivanovich retained his dedication to the guitar: he was one of the founders of the Classical Guitar Club in the House of Scientists of Tomsk.
The personal example of parents, as a rule, has a powerful influence on the formation of the addictions of children. The same happened in the Zimakovs family. According to Alexey, his father often played music, and this greatly influenced his son’s choice in life. Alexey wanted to extract the melody from a beautiful instrument himself. Noticing his son’s sincere interest in the guitar, his father, in a commanding voice, set the task for Alexey: “learn to play the guitar by the age of nine!”
When young Alexey had his first guitar playing skills and especially when he realized that he was able to build musical “palaces and castles” from notes, as in the “LEGO” designer, he had a real love for the guitar. A little later, experimenting with the melody, constructing it, Alexey realized that the music is richer and more diverse than any of the most sophisticated “transformers”. Is it not from here, from childhood, that Alexei’s craving for the construction of new guitar sounding possibilities was born? And what polyphonic horizons he was able to open as a result of a new reading of the symphonic interaction of guitar and piano!
However, back to Alexei's youthful years. Home education was replaced by studies at the Tomsk Music School. The deep knowledge that his father gave his son, as well as Alexey's natural abilities helped him to become the best student. According to the teachers, he was noticeably ahead of the official training program. The talented boy was not so much saturated with knowledge, as he helped him to improve, to hone the skills that had been formed. Alexey studied well and brilliantly graduated from college. His name is included in the list of the best graduates of this educational institution.
Alexey Zimakov continued his musical education at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in the class of N.N. Nemolyayev. In 1993 successfully graduated from the Academy. Higher musical education was obtained in the graduate school of the Academy from the Honored Artist of Russia (classical guitar), Professor Alexander Kamillovich Frauchi.
At the age of 19, Alexey became the only guitarist in modern history of Russia who managed to win the first prize at the IV All-Russian Competition of Performers on Folk Instruments (1990).
Zimakov's titanic work did not pass without a trace. The talented Russian guitarist was appreciated by the world music community. Success followed success.
In 1990 He won the First Prize at the International Competition in Tychy (Poland).
A very significant milestone in Alexey’s career was the participation in the prestigious annual international guitar competition in Miami (USA).
The program of his performances included “Invocation y Danza” by Joaquin Rodrigo, three pieces from the series “Castles of Spain” by Frederico Torroba and “Fantasy on the theme of Russian folk songs” by Sergey Orekhov. The jury noted in the game Zimakov bright colors, dynamics and special poetry performed by works Torroba. The jury was also impressed by the speed of execution of some passages in the play by Rodrigo and folk songs. Alexey in this competition received the Grand Prix, an award and the right to a concert tour of North America. During this tour in the autumn of 1992, our guitarist gave 52 concerts in two and a half months in Washington, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and other US cities. Alex Zimakov became the first Russian guitarist of our time, who achieved such success abroad. The famous Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo admitted that his works sounded perfectly in the performance of Zimakov.
Now we have a general idea of what kind of musician Alexey is. What kind of person is he? What are his personal qualities?
Already in childhood, Alexey was not like everyone else. His classmates recall that he was, as it were, not of this world. A closed man, with great reluctance opens his soul. Self-sufficient, not ambitious. For him, everything fades away, loses its value in front of the world of music. During performances, he isolates himself from the audience, “lives his own life,” hides his emotions. His sensual face emotionally “talks” only with the guitar. Contact with the hall is almost absent. But this is not fronda, not ignorance. On stage, as in life, very shy, modest. As a rule, he performs in simple, discreet concert costumes. His main treasure is not outside, it is hidden in himself - this is the ability to play ...
Neighbors at home treat Alexey with great respect, they appreciate him not only for his talent, but also for his delicacy and modesty. On hot summer evenings one could observe an unusual picture: Aleksey was playing music on the balcony. Numerous inhabitants of the house open the windows wide-open. The sounds of TVs fall silent. The improvised concert began ...
I, the author of these lines, were lucky not only to attend the performances of Alexei Viktorovich, but also to personally meet him, to exchange views on topical issues of music education. This happened during his arrival in the capital at the invitation of the Moscow Philharmonic. After several concerts in the Tchaikovsky Hall, he performed on March 16 at our Ivanov-Kramsky Music School. Some of his memories, stories about himself formed the basis of this essay.
An important innovative step in Zimakov’s career was concerts in the composition of classical guitar and piano. Alexey Viktorovich began to perform in a duet with Olga Anokhina. This format allowed us to add a solo orchestral sound to the guitar. The new interpretation of the classical guitar became real as a result of a deep rethinking, expansion and adaptation of the sound of this instrument to the musical range of the violin ...
My young friends, having read the above, you have the right to ask the question why the title of the article about Alexey Viktorovich Zimakov “Alexei Zimakov is a nugget, a genius, a fighter” reflected his dominant qualities such as originality, brilliance and genius, but why he is called a fighter ? Maybe the answer lies in the fact that his diligence borders on the feat? Yes and no. Indeed, it is known that the duration of the daily playing of Alexey Viktorovich on a guitar is 8 to 12 hours!
However, his true heroism lies in the fact that Aleksey Viktorovich was able to stoically withstand the terrible blow of fate: both hands were badly injured as a result of the accident. He managed to survive the tragedy and begin the search for opportunities to return to music. No matter how we recall the theory of self-reformatting a brilliant personality shared by many philosophers from one sphere of application of talent to another. World-class thinkers came to the conclusion that if the brilliant artist Raphael would have lost the opportunity to paint his paintings, his talented essence would have manifested itself in some other field of human activity !!! In the musical environment, with great enthusiasm, they took the news that Alexey Viktorovich was actively seeking new channels of self-realization. It is reported, in particular, that he plans to write books on the theory and practice of musical creativity. I intend to summarize the experience of teaching guitar in our country, to compare it with the method of teaching in the advanced states of the world in this regard. His plans also include the development of a computer system to form the basic skills of playing the guitar. They are considering the establishment of a music school or department in a school operating as a Paraolympic Olympiad, in which people with disabilities, who find it difficult to realize themselves in ordinary music schools, could study, including on an extramural basis.
And, of course, Alexey Viktorovich can continue his work on the design of new directions in the development of music, and is capable of becoming a COMPOSER!
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