David Helfgott ( born David Helfgott , born May 19, 1947, Melbourne ) is an Australian concert pianist .
| David Helfgott David Helfgott | |
|---|---|
| basic information | |
| Date of Birth | May 19, 1947 (72 years old) |
| Place of Birth | Melbourne |
| A country |  Australia |
| Professions | pianist |
| Instruments | the piano |
| Genres | |
| davidhelfgott.com | |
Biography
David Helfgott was born in Melbourne in a Polish-Jewish family. From the age of five, his father taught him to play the piano , and the boy showed the ability of a child prodigy. At the age of ten, he studied with Frank Arndt (Frank Arndt) from Perth , won several local music competitions (alone or in tandem with his sister Margaret).
At the age of 14, David had the opportunity to go to study in the United States , for which he was helped to raise money (in particular, the writer Katarina Prichard ), but his father did not give his consent to the departure of his son because of his infantility.
David continued to play, took part in the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards federal competition, which he won six times. At the age of 19, he received an invitation to the Royal College of Music in London , where for three years he studied with the pianist Cyril Smith. In college, he won the Dannreuther Prize for the best concert performance (the third concert was performed for piano and orchestra by Sergei Rachmaninov ). At the same time, Helfgott clearly showed schizoaffective disorder .
In 1970 he returned to Perth. In 1971, he married Clare Papp, an elderly woman with four children. [1] Worked as a rehearsal pianist at the Western Australian Opera Company . The marriage quickly disintegrated, and Helfgott was admitted to the Perth Psychiatric Hospital ( Graylands ), where he underwent a course of treatment using psychotropic drugs and electroconvulsive therapy for 10 years.
In 1983, David Forest's brother found him working at Perth Riccardo's wine bar. [1] There, in 1984, Helfgott met astrologer Gillian Murray, with whom he registered the marriage a year later.
In 1996, the movie "Shine" was released about the early years of Helfgott's life and his fight against mental illness. The pianist in the film was played by three actors of different ages: Alex Rafalovich played a child, Noah Taylor - a teenager, Jeffrey Rush - an adult. For his game, Rush received the Academy Award . The film was criticized by Helfgott's sister for a number of inaccuracies, in particular for portraying the pianist's father as a tyrant and despot. [2]
At present, Helfgott mainly plays music of the period of romanticism - Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, Chopin, List, Schumann and Rimsky-Korsakov. RCA released two commercial records of Helfgott. Experts quite critically evaluated the pianist's performing arts and criticized the record producers. [3] [4] [5] [6]
David Helfgott conducts concert tours in Australia every year and gives a small number of recitals in other countries. In 1999, he took part in the recording of the song “Emotion Sickness” by the Rockchair rock band (album “Neon Ballroom”).
Currently, the pianist lives with his wife in a valley near Bellingen in New South Wales .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Who , 24 March 1997
- ↑ Putting a spotlight of truth on 'Shine' // The Baltimore Sun, 05-24-1998.
- ↑ For Audience at a Recital, the Shine Is Undiminished // The New York Times , 06-03-1997
- ↑ Fanfare , Volume 23, No. 3 (1999), review by Peter J. Rabinowitz
- ↑ Gramophone , March 1997, review by Bruce Morrison
- ↑ Gramophone , September 1997, review by Philip Kennicott