Musician Oleg Akkuratov: “In the USA we are applauded especially loudly. VI International Festival The Future of Jazz in KZ named after
Oleg Akkuratov is a sensation and a holiday man. Virtuoso academic pianist, inspired jazz improviser, singer, arranger. Music is his life, his air and the main means of communication with the world.
To date, Oleg Akkuratov has already won many victories in prestigious music competitions (only Grand Prix and first places!). He has experience performing at best scenes Russia, Europe, America, China, creative works with such famous musicians as Lyudmila Gurchenko and Montserrat Caballe, concerts with jazz stars: the famous trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, vocalist Deborah Brown, international tours with the Igor Butman Orchestra.
On February 1, 2017, the first Grand solo concert Oleg Akkuratov on the stage of the Moscow International House of Music. On the eve of the performance, we talked with Oleg about his fate and creativity.
Please tell us about your years of study at the Rostov Conservatory. You got there after years of mastering music using the Braille system. Was it difficult to adapt to the university program?
I must say that the approach to studying at the conservatory turned out to be much easier for me than at a music school. The Braille music system differs from the usual flat-printed system in that the raised six-dots indicating notes must be “read” with your hands. That is, at music school I had to follow the notes with one hand and play with the other. Thus, the right and left hands had to be taught separately and then combined! At the Conservatory, I moved away from Braille and switched to the computer - using a regular Nero ShowTime player, I slowed down the tempo and listened to each passage 20 or 200 times, gradually memorizing and playing the piece of music.
It was very easy and pleasant for me to study at the Rostov Conservatory. I met my wonderful teacher, Honored Artist of Russia Vladimir Samuilovich Daich, back in 2002, that is, long before entering the conservatory. After transferring to Rostov from the Moscow Institute of Culture, he became my piano professor. It was with great pleasure that I completed a course in classical piano with him, and now I am studying in graduate school, specializing in chamber ensemble.
What kind of musician do you consider yourself - academic or jazz?
Yes, I switched to jazz, and I am probably better known to the public thanks to jazz, but I never stopped playing classical music. You could even say that jazz is my second subject, in to a greater extent hobby. At the same time, I study jazz tirelessly, just as I studied classical music since childhood. And yet, my base, foundation is academic piano. Even when I studied jazz at the Moscow College of Pop and Jazz Arts, I always played classics.
Literally at the end of last year, on December 2, I had a big solo concert at the Rostov-on-Don Philharmonic (excellent acoustics in the hall, they recently replaced the pianos, so it’s a pleasure to play there). I performed two parts of the classical program: two Beethoven sonatas - “Aurora” and “Appassionata”, a nocturne in E-flat major and a polonaise by Chopin, and seven pieces from Tchaikovsky’s “The Seasons” cycle. Only classics and no jazz! And for an encore - Scarlatti's E major sonata. The crowd went wild at the end!
When you felt confident jazz performer? When did you believe in yourself as a jazz pianist?
After the Moscow competition "Piano in Jazz". I then studied with Mikhail Moiseevich Okun. The chairman of the jury was Igor Bril, and Mikhail Moiseevich also sat among the judges. And then I felt confident in my choice and began to devote more time and effort to jazz, and began to specifically develop in this direction.
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In November 2006, Oleg Akkuratov received the Grand Prix in the category “Performer jazz music" and a 1st degree diploma in the category "Composition, arrangement and improvisation" at the Russian competition of young jazz performers "Piano in Jazz" in Moscow.
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But, probably, even more important was the victory that I won two years later - at International competition pianists in Novosibirsk, my first significant victory in an “adult” music competition. Students, graduates, and accomplished musicians took part there. I played three rounds of the classical program, won and still remember the name of each piece I performed in the competition.
Which jazz masters are close and interesting to you?
Tradition is closer to me than contemporary jazz. I love old pianists - Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Denis Wilson, Earl Gardner, Fainus Newborn (not everyone remembers him, of course, but many do). Then, of course, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. This is already more modern musicians, but their music is exactly what is close to me. Then Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Vinton Kelly (I really like him because he played exactly the tradition). If we talk about vocalists, I really like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Julia London, Dinah Washington, Natalie Cole. They are all completely different and each is unique in its own way. There are very good modern ones jazz singers. For example, Deborah Brown, I performed with her in Yeisk as a pianist and vocalist. And, of course, Dee Dee Bridgewater. And Diane Schur with her huge range - from B-flat of the major octave to B-flat of the second octave.
How many hours a day do you devote to music? How long have you been practicing the instrument?
Yes, there was a time when as a child I would play for two hours a day. But I grew up and long ago switched to a different format of classes - I devote almost 24 hours a day to music. In the morning I get up, sit down at the piano, learn something, listen, practice, learn something new and interesting in music. And this is not only working with the instrument, it is also working with the voice - I am constantly improving my vocals, expanding my academic base using the methods of Alexander Vedernikov. This is my life!
And besides music, I like to listen to “talking books”, I love the poems of Balmont, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, all Silver Age. And the classics - Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev...
How difficult is it for you to work in the densest tour schedule, on a variety of platforms and in different formats?
It’s not hard for me, but on the contrary, it’s very pleasant to perform a lot with a variety of programs. Because I am extremely partial to music - both classical and jazz. Music is my everything, it’s my soul, it’s my language, it’s light, it’s warmth, it’s trepidation, it’s all that I value.
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Oleg's dad tells the story - Boris Igorevich Akkuratov
Our Oleg is a man born in music. And I can judge this objectively, and not just as his father! His talent was appreciated by many great and respected people and musicians. Oleg studied in the class of the famous jazz pianist Mikhail Okun, communicated closely with Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko, performed with her, and participated in her film.
But he never forgot about his family and his roots! Oleg and I often sing at home, I pick up my Tula accordion, play lambada, sing Cossack songs... After all, we had our own Cossack ensemble “Kuren” - we went to kurens, played in elections, went to villages.
Oleg was “fascinated by music” since childhood. I remember that I was just brought home from the maternity hospital, very little, crying in my crib, but as soon as I turned on the music, I quieted down and listened. As soon as he grew up, he went and reached out to our old piano “Kuban”... and began to repeat the theme from Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto, which he heard on the radio! First, with one hand, and then with the other hand, I placed it on the keyboard. Myself! And when at the age of five he went to the Armavir boarding school, one of the old, experienced music teachers said: “This boy’s hands are naturally positioned correctly from birth.”
From the age of five, Oleg studied at the Armavir specialized music school for blind and visually impaired children (the boy was born blind, he has bilateral optic atrophy). Graduated from school with honors. Even during his studies, and even after it, Oleg traveled a lot around various competitions and concerts, for which many thanks to the teachers who gave great value its education and development.
I was once asked a question: wasn’t it a pity for you, the father, to send your little five-year-old child to a boarding school? Yes, this cannot happen without me worrying! I tore the child, the first-born of my beloved, from my heart. But it was precisely because of this that Oleg began to live and study in his field, with his children, with excellent teachers. He was not just an equal among equals, he felt like one of the best! Which, of course, would not happen in our simple neighborhood school. At the boarding school, he never felt like he was lacking; he studied well and developed his talent. And I was able to achieve a lot! Oleg is not only talented musician, he owns several foreign languages, is explained in English with virtually no accent, as he was repeatedly told about on tour in America. Understands and can communicate in German and Italian! Oleg is a listener, like everyone else in our family, he easily perceives and reproduces other people's speech.
And I also want to say that Oleg is a big worker, he always worked, even when he was very little. Literally did not leave the piano. And this was not just a game or exercise for him, music became his spiritual life. And no matter what difficulties he had, he never stopped working. And very different things happened... Once he had an injured finger on his hand, he was treated, he developed his hand again. But he never backed down.
VI International Festival The Future of Jazz in KZ named after. P.I. Tchaikovsky
Moscow Jazz Orchestra of Igor Butman, Oleg Akkuratov and Anthony Strong
Concert of A Bu and Oleg Akkuratov
Moscow Jazz Orchestra. Thelonious Monk 100th Anniversary Concert
For 18 years, RG has been following the fate of Oleg Akkuratov, a phenomenally gifted blind musician from Krasnodar region.
We first talked about him when Oleg was only eight years old and he studied at the Armavir specialized music school for blind and visually impaired children. And even then they were convinced: the child’s unusual gift amazed everyone who came into contact with him. Hundreds different people all these years they nurtured the young talent and rejoiced at Oleg’s successes. And his meeting with Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko gave him a chance to become a real world star. The actress took Oleg with her to concerts, sang with him at creative meetings, persuaded businessmen to buy an expensive concert grand piano for him. In 2008, she accompanied him to Novosibirsk for the International Piano Competition. Akkuratov’s performance was the opening of the competition - he performed on equal terms with sighted musicians and won a triumphant victory.
In the fall of next year, the stage of the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory awaited him, but he never appeared on it. It turned out that at the request of his relatives, Oleg returned to the tiny village of Morevka, Yeisk district, from where he was sent to the Armavir school at the age of six. Now, in addition to the grandparents, the second family of Oleg’s father lived in the house with three children. So he had to become the breadwinner large family. The jazz band "MICH-Band" was created especially for him, named in honor of the former resident of Yerevan, Mikhail Ivanovich Chepel (hence the abbreviation). "MICH Band" became a commercial project of a capital philanthropist who undertook to patronize a blind musician. Tickets for the concerts of the hastily put together jazz group, performing under the brand of International Piano Competition laureate Oleg Akkuratov, were selling like hot cakes. Oleg abandoned his studies in Moscow and, on the advice of his new trustees, began to refuse to participate in significant cultural events, where he continued to be invited.
He also did not appear at the premiere of Lyudmila Gurchenko’s film “Motley Twilight,” filmed with his participation and dedicated to the fate of an equally gifted blind youth. The credits read: "Piano and vocals - Oleg Akkuratov." Lyudmila Markovna dreamed that she would bring her young idol onto the stage and everyone would see the one who became the prototype of the main character. But this did not happen.
"Motley Twilight" ends with a happy ending: famous musician takes the aspiring star to continue his studies abroad. In life, everything turned out differently. Oleg's relatives tried to cut him off from all previous contacts, even from communication with great actress. But they brought him to Gurchenko’s funeral. In an interview with reporters, he said that he would never forget what this did for him. great woman. Bowing his head, he followed the coffin, but did not have time to say the last “sorry”...
ABOUT further development We managed to learn about the events from the director of the Yeisk School of Arts, Elena Ivakhnenko.
He came to us after graduating from a jazz college with the help of teachers from the Armavir Music School and the first year of a music institute in Moscow,” she explains. - They took his documents and transferred him to the Rostov Conservatory. His teacher and mentor here was piano professor Vladimir Daich. I went with him to Rostov for more than a year, for which my relatives didn’t even say thank you. At this time, Csepel took out the tools jazz orchestra, allegedly donated to our House of Culture in order to independently exploit Oleg’s talent in the future. One can only be amazed how the guy managed to graduate from the conservatory.
We contact Oleg’s teacher, professor of the Rostov Conservatory Vladimir Samuilovich Daich.
He studied piano with me for four years,” explains the professor. - A phenomenally gifted musician, but we parted badly. I don’t know at whose instigation, but he acted dishonestly and dishonestly.
It turned out that last fall Akkuratov received the second prize of one of the most prestigious music competitions in Moscow. It was agreed that Vladimir Samuilovich would prepare Oleg to participate in the Tchaikovsky Competition, but he... disappeared.
Oleg had a chance to become world famous famous person, - laments Dyche, but he missed it. - This is extremely offensive. I heard that he plays in restaurants and earns money. It's probably necessary. But is it really possible to hammer nails with an expensive microscope?! However, he is now studying jazz and this is probably right choice. After all, the main thing here is not the teacher, but personal talent and the ability to improvise. That is, what he is endowed with in abundance by nature.
They had not seen the professor for almost a year. Oleg abandoned his studies at the conservatory, until one day Elena Ivakhnenko reminded him that he had to pass state exams.
In May of this year, he appeared with the question: “Can I pass the state exams,” says Professor Dyche. “I studied with him for a day, and the next day he passed the exam. That's where we parted. I have no grudge against him, only sympathy. After all, if everything had turned out differently, the world would have applauded him now. This is an amazingly gifted person. Personally, I do not lose hope that he will be able to achieve a lot, overcoming fate and prevailing circumstances. And, of course, I was very happy when I learned that Igor Butman took over Oleg’s creative patronage. Perhaps with its help he will stop hammering nails with an expensive microscope. Oleg is our common heritage. And its future should be of concern to everyone who thinks about the prestige of the country.
Meanwhile
Pianist Oleg Akkuratov took part in the filming of the program “Property of the Republic”, dedicated to Lyudmila Gurchenko. And he sang in a duet with Aslan Akhmadov so purely, touchingly and soulfully that many in the studio wanted to vote for this particular song - the famous “For three years I dreamed of you.” Of course, the composition sounded to the piano accompaniment of Oleg Akkuratov. Gurchenko’s husband, Sergei Senin, telling the story of Oleg Akkuratov’s acquaintance with Lyudmila Markovna in the program, emphasized that Gurchenko did not call the talented pianist anything other than a “miracle” and an “angel.” And Oleg once again confirmed both his talent and his purpose on television filming.
The program “PROPERTY OF THE REPUBLIC”, dedicated to Lyudmila Gurchenko, will be aired on Channel One on Saturday, November 14, at 19.00.
Unique blind pianist Oleg Akkuratov - about the main task of his life
Doctors and psychologists know: nature often more than compensates for the absence of one of the senses by the development of others. This is what happened to Oleg Akkuratov. Blind from birth, the boy discovered phenomenal musical abilities. Now that Oleg is 27, it has become obvious: Akkuratov is a talent with capital letters. And a Man with the same one. On my first ever big concert in the capital, in the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music, the musician from Krasnodar amazed the capital's audience with how surprisingly natural he felt in the world of European classics and jazz, showing himself to be a subtle interpreter and a brilliant virtuoso. But our conversation with Oleg after the concert concerned not only music.
He was born in the city of Yeisk, Krasnodar Territory, to a minor mother, and was raised by his grandparents. And they noticed how enthusiastically the baby picked out any melody he heard on the piano. They showed it to the teachers of the local music school - they immediately accepted the guy into first grade. Then Oleg graduated from a specialized music school for blind and visually impaired children (it turns out there is one in Armavir, Rostov region), Moscow music college pop and jazz art. And then the Rostov State Conservatory (with honors!), where he is now a graduate student and also teaches.
Oleg is a laureate of Russian and international competitions, not special ones, but those where sighted musicians compete. He toured Russia with concerts and performed in the most prestigious foreign halls. As a member of the Igor Butman Quartet and the Moscow Jazz Orchestra, he toured in Israel, the Netherlands, Italy, India, the USA, Canada... And everywhere he received a standing ovation. The hall of the Moscow House of Music was no exception...
— Oleg, jazz is often contrasted with classical music, but you brilliantly play both. What is closer to you?
— For me, classical and jazz are two facets of the same art, I like to combine them in my programs. IN classic work you must play all the notes accurately, convey the author's phrasing and dynamics. But in jazz you improvise, building a composition, coming up with riffs - repeatable motifs... When I play classics for a long time, I start to miss jazz, and vice versa.
Music can express and depict anything - even the mountains of Tibet, even the prairies of Texas. In Debussy you can directly hear the singing of forest birds. Or take Grieg... You immediately understand: this is the north, Norway - the sea, fjords, meadows. And in tragic works Beethoven's music reveals battles and revolutions, not only those that have happened, but also those that are yet to come...
— A more practical question: how do you learn pieces?
- Using a computer. I slow down the tempo, listen to what the right side is playing, left hand. I reproduce the parts, but not mechanically, but trying to catch the accents and polyphonic effects. I spend whole days at the instrument, from morning to evening. Music is as vast as the ocean. You can dive deeper and deeper into a work you already know, constantly finding new nuances. Actually, this is what my whole life consists of.
— How many of your 27 years have you been playing the piano?
— I’ve been playing since I was three years old. I went to music school at six. At the age of 10, he was already performing Children's albums by Tchaikovsky and Schumann, sonatas by Mozart. Having mastered this, I moved on to Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata, Rachmaninov's Preludes... I love the feeling when you seem to grow from play to play. I also write instrumental music and songs. But in at the moment focused primarily on classical music - after all, graduate school obliges.
— Tell us about the school for blind musicians in Armavir.
“She’s the first one like this in Russia.” Opened in 1989 on the initiative of wonderful person- blind accordion player and teacher Vladimir Sukhorukov. At first, only visually impaired people studied there, then they began to accept everyone. Everyone learns together, which is very good. Our teachers have developed a technique that uses notes written in Braille. And we perceive a lot by ear. The school has well-equipped classrooms, excellent instruments... Three years ago, at the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Sochi, I played the Paralympic anthem, and a student from our school, Nafset Chenib, sang brilliantly with Jose Carreras and Diana Gurtskaya.
I owe my victory at the Vera Lothar-Shevchenko International Competition to my teachers, first of all Anna Yuryevna Kudryasheva. In general, it is impossible to list all the people to whom I feel enormous gratitude. Here are a few more names. After Armavir, I studied at the Moscow Variety Jazz School with Mikhail Moiseevich Okun. He helped shape me as a jazz musician. Of the professors at the Rostov Conservatory, I cannot help but mention Vladimir Samuilovich Daich, a teacher of classical piano. And now I’m studying in graduate school with Professor Margarita Petrovna Chernykh, a chamber ensemble specialist. I also teach at the jazz department of the Rostov College of Arts, which is headed by a magnificent musician and my friend, double bassist Adam Teratsuyan. The meeting with Igor Mikhailovich Butman turned out to be very important for me. It was he who opened the world to me as a touring artist. How can we forget the wonderful concerts where we performed with such giants as Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea, Robert Glesper and other world-class jazz stars.
— You also performed before the Pope?
— Yes, but I didn’t play, but sang in the Vatican in 2003. The choir of Viktor Sergeevich Popov and two more soloists took part in that trip. We performed the 140th Psalm of King David, “Let my prayer be corrected,” its famous version written by composer Pavel Chesnokov. Our performance created a sensation. Pope John Paul II thanked me in three languages - Russian, Polish and Italian - for singing well.
—Where is your favorite audience?
— Even when you play the same program, in different cities of the world you are greeted in a special way, they expect something special from you, close to this particular audience. You can feel it from the stage. I like the public of St. Petersburg, they are warm, educated and intelligent. But the closest thing to me is still the Moscow public. Hospitable, enthusiastic and at the same time demanding, well versed in music. When the Svetlanov Hall of the House of Music applauds you, believe me, it’s worth a lot.
— I heard that you are going to participate in the Tchaikovsky competition?
“I would really like this, but I can’t say yet whether it will work.” A lot has to come together.
— Oleg, what qualities of character or soul led you to success - if, of course, we talk about the main thing?
— If about the main thing, then it is the love of music. I really live by her, and she often reciprocates my feelings, I feel her gratitude. And I also love to work. At a concert at the House of Music, I sang my ballad based on Zabolotsky’s poems, “The Soul Must Work.” These words are my motto. Musician's work - burlatsky labor. As I said genius pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein, “one must practice music 20 hours a day without a break.” I try to follow this advice.
Akkuratov, pianist,Pianist Oleg Akkuratov is a jazz and academic musician. Notes, harmonies and melodies became firmly established in his life from the age of 3, when his father sent him to a special music school in Yeisk. Oleg has not been able to see since birth, and at all performances he is accompanied by his father, the closest and most reliable person to him.
It was he who played the most significant role in the education of the future recognized pianist. Oleg Akkuratov also speaks warmly about his grandparents - he adopted their hard work ethic from them. Fame did not come to young Oleg right away, but when he began to be invited to various classical and jazz events, he began to spend time at the piano with even greater zeal.
In an interview with the JazzPeople portal, Oleg Akkuratov admitted that his favorite pastime is memorizing major musical works and touring the world with concerts.
About education and family relationships
– Oleg, what influence did your father and grandparents have on your upbringing?
– I was raised not only by my grandparents. The main responsibility fell on the shoulders of my father, with whom we have an excellent relationship. He's not easy for me dear person, but also a mentor. At the same time, I can’t say that I learned anything specific from him - we are constantly in contact with him, we toured together in India, China, Canada, America, he comes to all my concerts.
Academic and jazz pianist Oleg Akkuratov at a rehearsal I am grateful to him for always supporting me. I have been making music since childhood, and all these years he has been by my side. His life is also connected with music, and largely thanks to his experience, I can develop by looking at him not only in a musical direction, but also gain life experience.
My father comes to all my concerts
About cooperation with Igor Butman
– How did your collaboration with Igor Butman begin in 2013?
– Igor Mikhailovich came to us in Rostov-on-Don a year earlier, in 2012. I took part in the “World of Jazz” competition, in which he was the chairman of the jury. Reputable judges highly appreciated my performance of jazz standards, in particular the composition Over the Erroll Garner's Rainbow and Cotton Tail, and awarded me the Grand Prix.
Then he made me an offer of cooperation. One of our first joint performances abroad was at the International Jazz Festival in Latvia - World Jazz Festival. I am grateful to him for the opportunity to tour different cities and countries, play amazing music with top-notch jazz musicians.
About jazz and classics
– You play both jazz and classical music. Which of these two directions is closer to you and why?
– First of all, I note that despite the fact that I play classical and jazz, others musical styles I'm interested too. In classical music, for example, a musician must maintain the accuracy of the text and dynamics. Jazz also has its own canons, but it is characterized by greater improvisation; its main feature is freedom of expression. You can’t limit it, but you can’t go beyond the boundaries of style either.
If you have talent, you must definitely demonstrate it to the public.
About music as a way of life
– Music is already an integral part of your life. When did you become famous and how do you feel about it?
Oleg Akkuratov equally enjoys playing classical and jazz pieces – I think fame came to me because I took part in a lot of competitions and demonstrated my musical abilities in public. If I, even having a talent from birth, had not told a wide audience about it, no one would have known about it, because no one would have heard my music.
I can say that big stage She began to open up to me when I was 14-15 years old. Even then I began to play equally a lot and classical music, and jazz.
Regarding how I feel about fame, interesting question. For real famous artist becomes when he is in demand everywhere - he is constantly invited to play at concerts, host festivals, participate in shows on television and radio.
– What is most important to you in music?
– I’m interested in playing extensive musical works, for example, sonatas by Beethoven or Prokofiev, so, oddly enough, I really love sheet music. I like it and I can remember it long essays on several sheets. I won't say it's very easy, but I have a certain interest in it and I feel like I'm developing as an instrumentalist. They help me with this good memory and musical ear.
Distinguishing shades in a work is the main thing for me
Music for Oleg Akkuratov is his special world, filled with colors and emotions I think equally important is the need to respect the composer's style - you cannot play Chopin as Mozart, and Mozart as Chopin. Distinguishing shades in a work is what I also consider the main thing. If we talk about jazz, then when creating music in Latin American or ethnic style, you need to respect the traditions of these musical movements. This also includes the playing technique - the sound changes depending on the touch of the piano keys.
About motivation
– Why do you continue to make music every day?
In addition to playing music, Oleg likes to listen to audiobooks with poetry – I am a musician, and I believe that this is how it should be in my life if I want to succeed at a professional level. I play every day, classes can take me 6-8 hours.
Of course, I also have free time. I can listen to audiobooks - I mainly like poetry: poems by Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Zabolotsky, Gumilyov, Pushkin, Lermontov.
Even when I'm not playing music, it's still with me. Music is my soul, my language, my feelings, it is my world. I live, breathe and cherish music.
Interviewed by Victoria Mall
Photos provided by guest interview
Documentary film “Sinkopa” about Oleg Akkuratov
Syncope
"But to know the beauty of the universe...
To glorify God forever,
Knight, I don't need light."
P. Tchaikovsky, "Iolanta"
Syncope in music - a shift in emphasis from a strong beat to a weak beat, that is, a discrepancy between the rhythmic and metric accents.
Anyone who has tried to learn 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 the memory it seems like a real feat, almost impossible.
Oleg Akkuratov is a unique blind pianist. He won huge amount competitions, he accompanied outstanding opera singer Montserrat Caballe, he has absolute pitch and musical memory.
Let me remind you of the materials “Blind Music”. In them I talked about unexpected turn in the life of our hero, about fateful meetings - such as Vladislav Teterin,. She immediately believed in his talent and predicted the glory of Ray Charles for the blind musician.
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At the age of 13, Oleg recorded his first classical record in Germany. He is a laureate of many competitions. He has such an ear that just when they play out of tune, the guy has such agony on his face... Oleg plays both classics and jazz, and he sings jazz musician. When they brought him to the conservatory, the professor said: “This is Mozart! Such people are born once every hundred years!” This was said when he was twelve.
The amazing Armavir teachers invested a lot in the guy, but, as always in Russia, you can’t do without those who can and want to help. Previously, such people were called patrons of the arts, who modestly, without PR, as they would say now, helped many talents get on their feet. After all, you just need money for an accompanying person... Even just to get you 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 developmentally delayed boy, abandoned by his parents (they have now returned to him), Oleg began to study with the best teachers. So what now? He won in Germany as classical pianist, won a competition in Russia as a jazz pianist. Performed concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow. In London with the great musician D. Dorelli. Where has this been seen? World premiere for a world star with a fourteen-year-old blind boy! Now we are planning to record a CD with Elton John. This is a lot of work..."
A blind boy from Armavir, Oleg Akkuratov, found good teachers in his hometown, he came many times to take master classes in Moscow 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 and performed with Montserrat Caballe. And at the age of 19 he won the International Piano Competition in Novosibirsk - beating his sighted peers. 
classes with conductor S.N. Proskurin
In parallel with his studies at school, where he studied for a total of 14 years, Oleg graduated from the pop-jazz school in absentia and entered the music department of the Moscow University of Culture and Arts. It was planned that after graduation he would work here as an accompanist of the combined choir "Lark", continuing to study according to an individual program. Therefore, we decided that we would continue to patronize him creative development will still be Armavir music school. But the young man must no longer live in a boarding school, as before, but in his own apartment, bought with money raised by the Kuban residents.
Of course, it is much better to be nearby close person, but his relatives, having sent their child to a boarding school almost fifteen years ago, almost completely transferred the care of him to the shoulders of the state.
President of the World of Art Foundation Vladislav Teterin came up with something truly grandiose especially for a blind genius from the Kuban outback: October 14, 2009 in Great hall 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 simply 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. One day his stepmother picked up the phone and started demanding some money. So she said: “Pay, then he will come to you.” We were all shocked.
True, we were never able to talk in private: his relatives were constantly nearby, monitoring the young man’s every word. It looks like the adults have already decided everything for him. They vying with each other to express their accumulated grievances and share their plans. Now it belongs to his father, who lives on his pension. Oleg lives in a village near Yeisk. The relative realized that the boy was promising 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 so needs. Now they have put together a jazz band for Akkuratov 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. “We should have bought an apartment not there, but in Yeisk, next to us.” We will change his housing, if necessary, and we will go to Moscow for him,” says stepmother Marina, mother of 3 children. Found good people, they promise to help. So now, where Oleg goes, so do we.
“There’s no point in making him look like an orphan from Kazan. I’ll go to concerts myself, if necessary I’ll go abroad,” Boris declares. - Why does he need strangers if he has a family?
. . . . . . .
Vladislav Teterin, President of the World of Art Foundation:
- In 10 years of teaching this brilliant child, I have never heard my father’s voice. And to find out that he was now 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 concert halls"I'm glad that the boy has a family, but I'm afraid that in six months he will realize that he is 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 can feed such big family he is unlikely to be able to. Well, go back to high level classical music will be simply impossible.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
On the black and white keys of life, Oleg Akkuratov plays his bright,
unique and contradictory fate.
...This “syncopation” lasted a year and a half, and I can happily 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 musician’s talent.
My short report:
Since September 2011, Oleg has been a student at the Rostov State Conservatory named after S.V. Rachmaninov (class of Professor Honored Artist of the Russian Federation V.S. Daich).
In June 2011, Akkuratov took part in the international festival "Seasons", which is held annually in Kuban. WITH chamber orchestra At the Moscow Concert "The Seasons" under the baton of Honored Artist of Russia Vladislav Bulakhov, Oleg successfully performed W.A. Mozart's concerto No. 13, which served as the beginning of further creative collaboration with the group.
One more significant event for Oleg in 2013. Chairman of the jury of the "Triumph of Jazz" competition, which People's Artist Russia's Igor Butman invited Oleg to his jazz festival.
For reference: The International Festival "Triumph of Jazz" is the largest world-class jazz event in Russia. The list of triumphs of the festival 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 well-known throughout the world of musicians.
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Oleg Akkuratov and Adam Teratsuyan
2014 was a new amazing year for the musician.
May 18, 2014. Seventh International creative festival"Step forward!" As part of the festival, in the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic, Oleg Akkuratov and Academic symphony orchestra Philharmonic (conductor Vladimir Altshuler).
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1, B-flat minor, op. 23 by P.I. Tchaikovsky
2014 Paralympic Games.
The Paralympic flag was lowered from the flagpole to the arrangement of the Paralympic anthem performed by blind pianist Oleg Akkuratov.
"Play, blind man, and with your music
Bring goodness through evil and stumbling,
Give love for the joy of people,
Don't be afraid of tears, they are like a revelation.
Let your life be a veil of night,
But the light inside you is most precious..."
(Yana Demidenko)
