ALEXEY ZIMAKOV: NUGGET, GENIUS, FIGHTER

     Alexey Viktorovich Zimakov was born on January 3, 1971. in the Siberian city of Tomsk. He is an outstanding Russian guitarist. A brilliant performer, an amazing virtuoso. He has extraordinary musicality, unattainable technique and purity of performance. Received recognition in Russia and abroad.

     At the age of 20 he became a laureate of prestigious all-Russian and international competitions. This is a rare case of such an early ascent of a domestic guitarist to the Olympus of musical art. At the height of his fame, he alone achieved virtuoso performances of some incredibly difficult works. When Alexey turned 16, he amazed the musical community with his cosmic performance technique in his own arrangement of a virtuoso  Screaming  music. I achieved a new guitar sound, close to orchestral, comparable to it.

     Isn’t it a miracle that at such an early age he brilliantly performed in his own interpretation, arrangement for guitar and piano, the rondo finale of “Campanella” and  Paganini’s Second Violin Concerto!!! A recording of this wonderful concert was shown on Tomsk television in the late 80s…

      His father Viktor Ivanovich began teaching Alexey how to play the guitar. Tell me honestly, you  You would probably be quite surprised if someone told you that Alexey’s first teacher was the commander of a nuclear submarine of the Russian Navy. Yes, you heard right. Indeed, the boy’s father spent many years underwater in full combat readiness. It was there, in his Nautilus, in rare moments of rest that Viktor Ivanovich played the guitar. If the echo sounders of enemy anti-submarine ships could listen to what was happening on Russian submarines, then it is not difficult to imagine the amazement and dismay of enemy acousticians at the sounds of a guitar they heard.

     You might be interested to know that after completing his naval service, having changed his military uniform to civilian clothes, Viktor Ivanovich remained devoted to the guitar: he was one of the founders of the Classical Guitar Club in the House of Scientists in Tomsk.

     The personal example of parents, as a rule, has a powerful influence on the formation of children’s preferences. The same thing happened in the Zimakov family. According to Alexei, his father often played music, and this greatly influenced his son’s choice of his path in life. Alexey wanted to extract the melody from the beautiful instrument himself. Noticing his son’s sincere interest in the guitar, his father, in a commanding voice, set a task for Alexey: “learn to play the guitar by the age of nine!”

     When young Alexei acquired his first skills in playing the guitar, and especially when he realized that he was able to build musical “palaces and castles” from notes, like in a LEGO set, a real love for the guitar arose in him. A little later, experimenting with the melody, constructing it, Alexey realized that music is richer and more diverse than any of the most sophisticated “transformers”. Isn’t it from here, from childhood, that Alexey’s desire to design new possibilities for the sound of the guitar arose? And what polyphonic horizons he was able to open as a result of a new interpretation of the symphonic interaction of guitar and piano!

      However, let’s return to Alexei’s teenage years. Home education was replaced by studies at the Tomsk Music College. The deep knowledge that the father gave to his son, as well as Alexey’s natural abilities, helped him become the best student. According to teachers, he was noticeably ahead of the official training program.  The talented boy was not so much saturated with knowledge as they were helped to improve and hone the skills he was developing. Alexey studied well and graduated from college with flying colors. 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.A. Nemolyaev. In 1993 successfully completed his studies at the academy. Higher musical education was received in graduate school at the academy from the Honored Artist of Russia (classical guitar), Professor Alexander Kamillovich Frauchi.

       В  At the age of 19, Alexey became the only guitarist in modern Russian history who managed to win 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 highly appreciated by the world music community. Success followed success. 

     In 1990 he won First Prize at the International Competition in Tychy (Poland).

    A very significant milestone in Alexey’s career was participation in the prestigious annual international guitar competition in Miami (USA).

The program of his performance included “Invocation y Danza” by Joaquino Rodrigo, three plays from the cycle “Castles of Spain” by Frederico Torroba and “Fantasy on the Theme of Russian Folk Songs” by Sergei Orekhov. The jury noted in Zimakov’s playing the bright colors, dynamics and special poetry in the performance of Torroba’s works. The jury was also very impressed by the speed of execution of some passages in Rodrigo’s play and folk songs. Alexei  in this competition he received the Grand Prix, a prize and the right to a concert tour of North America. During this tour, which took place in the fall of 1992, our guitarist  in two and a half months he gave 52 concerts in Washington, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and other US cities. Alexey Zimakov became the first Russian guitarist of our time to achieve such success abroad. The famous Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo admitted that his works sounded perfect when performed  Zimakova.

        Now we have a general idea of ​​what kind of musician Alexey is. What kind of person is he? What are his personal qualities?

      Even as a child, Alexey was not like everyone else. His classmates recall that he was, as it were, not of this world. A closed person is very reluctant to open his soul. Self-sufficient, not ambitious. For him, everything fades and loses its value in front of the world of music. During performances, he isolates himself from the audience, “lives his own life,” and hides his emotions. His sensual face emotionally “talks” only to the guitar.  There is almost no contact with the audience. But this is not frontism, not arrogance. On stage, as in life, he is very shy and modest. As a rule, he performs in simple, discreet concert costumes. His main treasure is not outside, it is hidden within himself – this is the ability to play…

        The housemates treat Alexey with great respect, value him not only for his talent, but also for his delicacy and modesty. On hot summer evenings it was possible  observe an unusual picture: Alexey plays music on the balcony. Numerous inhabitants of the house open their windows wide open. The sound of the televisions goes silent. The impromptu concert has begun…

     I, the author of these lines, was lucky not only to attend Alexei Viktorovich’s performances, but also to personally meet him and exchange opinions on current issues in music education. This happened during his visit to the capital at the invitation of the Moscow Philharmonic. After several concerts in the Tchaikovsky Hall, he  spoke on March 16 in our  music school named after Ivanov-Kramsky. Some of his memories and stories about himself formed the basis of this essay.

     An important innovative step in Zimakov’s career were concerts with classical guitar and piano. Alexey Viktorovich began performing in a duet with Olga Anokhina. This format made it possible to give the guitar solo an orchestral sound. A new interpretation of the possibilities of the classical guitar became real as a result  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 Alexei Viktorovich Zimakov “Alexey Zimakov – a nugget, a genius, a fighter” reflected his dominant qualities such as originality, brilliance and genius, but why  is he called a fighter? Maybe the answer lies in the fact that his hard work borders on feat? Yes and no. Indeed, it is known that the duration of Alexey Viktorovich’s daily guitar playing is 8 – 12 hours! 

     However, his true heroism lies in the fact that Alexey Viktorovich was able to stoically withstand the terrible blow of fate: as a result   The accident severely damaged both hands. He managed to survive the tragedy and began looking for opportunities to return to music. No matter how you recall the theory shared by many philosophers of the self-reformatting of a genius personality from one area of ​​application of talent to another. World-class thinkers came to the conclusion that if a brilliant artist  Raphael would have lost the opportunity to paint his paintings, then his talented essence would inevitably have manifested itself in some other area of ​​​​human activity!!! In the musical environment, the news that Alexey Viktorovich was actively searching for new channels of self-realization was received with great enthusiasm. 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 and compare it with teaching methods in the world’s leading countries in this regard. His plans also include the development of a computer system for developing basic guitar playing skills. He is considering the issue of founding a music school or department in a school that operates like a Paralympic Olympiad, in which people with disabilities who find it difficult to realize themselves in regular music schools could study, including on a correspondence basis.

     And, of course, Alexey Viktorovich can continue his work on constructing new directions in the development of music, he is capable of becoming a COMPOSER!