Lots of people have asked for a higher quality version of 'Air on the G String' so here we go! Please remember to like and subscribe if you enjoy Derek's playing!
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- The Amber Trust, of which Derek is a patron, is a charity that provides visually impaired children with the chance to engage with music.
Derek Paravicini is a musical savant. Blind from birth, he has autism and severe learning difficulties yet he is a world-renowned pianist with a genius for improvisation. Combining the gift of perfect pitch with his incredible musical memory and his amazing talent for musical interpretation, Derek can play almost any piece by ear in any key or style. He's well known for his creative and unique improvisations and with musical influences ranging from Bach and Chopin to George Shearing and Keith Jarrett to Bill Evans, Fats Waller, Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum, you're guaranteed to never hear him play the same piece in the same way twice.
Born extremely prematurely at 25 weeks, and weighing just over half a kilogram, Derek lost his sight as a result of the oxygen therapy required to save his life, and his development was affected too. As it became apparent that he had severe learning difficulties, it also became apparent that Derek began life with a precocious fascination for music and sound. He began to teach himself to play the piano at the age of two, and by the age of four, had taught himself to play a large number of complex pieces. With no visual models to guide him, his technique was chaotic, and even his elbows would frequently be pressed into service as he strove to reach intervals beyond the span of his tiny hands!
At this time, his enormous potential was recognised by Adam Ockelford, then music teacher at Linden Lodge School for the Blind in London. Adam and Derek began to work together weekly and then daily, in an extensive programme of tuition that was to last for several years. Painstakingly Derek acquired the foundations of technique that were necessary for him to move forward.
His natural affinity for jazz soon became evident; together with his improvisatory talents, absolute pitch, ability to play in any key, and flair for performing in public!
Derek first shot to fame when he was nine, playing with the Royal Philharmonic Pops Orchestra at the Barbican.
Many TV appearances followed, in the UK and overseas, including Japan, Germany and Australia, and three times on CBS’s prestigious ‘60 Minutes’ programme in the USA. Derek Paravicini has performed in venues ranging from Ronnie Scott’s renowned jazz club in London, to the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and in Phoenix, Arizona, for Mohammad Ali. He has performed twice at Buckingham Palace. In 2011, Derek played ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and a piano concerto written specially for him, at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Derek's talent, love of music, and - above all - the ability to communicate through sound means he will continue to thrill audiences for years to come in the UK and abroad.
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