Heartbreaking fate of male artist who had 8 fingers amputated

The irony of fate took away his precious hands, the genius guitarist Alexey Zimakov was injured after this shock. He died at the age of 47.

Alexey Zimakov (1971-2108).

Alexey Zimakov was born in 1971 in Tomsk, Russia. As a child, Zimakov received his first lessons on the guitar from his father. Zimakov's natural talent became evident in the late 1980s when he arranged for guitar and piano and performed on television the Rondo-Finale Campanella from Paganini's violin concerto.

As a student, Zimakov recorded and submitted his performances to several competitions, only to be rejected because they suspected he had used tricks to “speed up” the pieces. They did not believe that a human could play so quickly and skillfully.

After graduating from a music school in Tomsk, Zimakov studied guitar at the famous Gnesin Music Academy in Moscow under the guidance of the famous Professor Komoliatov.

In 1990, Zimakov won the First Prize of the IV All-Russian Competition on Folk Instruments. This was the first time in history that the First Prize was awarded to a guitarist.

In 1991, Zimakov shocked the classical guitar world when he became the first Russian to win first prize at one of the world's most prestigious guitar competitions, the GFA (Guitar Foundation of America), held in the United States at the age of 20 and still a student. It was 11 years later that Russia had a second person to win this prize.

At the competition, the judges were impressed by the nuances, dynamics and lyricism of Zimakov's interpretations of Torroba . They were particularly impressed by the speed with which certain passages from Rodrigo's work were handled, as well as by the adaptations of the piece i Troika ( Russian folk song).

Even the composer J. Rodrigo, author of the immortal Aranjuez concerto for guitar, after hearing Zimakov perform it, told the press that this was the perfect rendition of his work.

After graduating from university in 1993, Zimakov pursued postgraduate studies under the guidance of leading guitarist A. Frauchi. He also regularly performs throughout Russia and receives numerous invitations to perform in France, Italy, Spain, etc.

Zimakov performs mainly works by Bach, Giuliani, Rodrigo, Ponce... works by contemporary Spanish composers. In addition, he also transcribes many works by Paganini.

Despite his fame, Zimakov lives a very simple life, refusing attractive job offers in Western countries. He chooses to work in his hometown of Tomsk. Not only is he a performer, he is also an exemplary teacher, teaching and inspiring many generations of his talented students.

When his talent was at its peak, at the end of 2013, a tragedy that seemed like a joke happened to Zimakov. On a particularly cold winter night in late January 2013 in Siberia, Zimakov was invited to a party hosted by his father's friend. They had fun together, drinking vodka.

When he returned to his apartment after the party, it was -44 degrees outside. Zimakov tried to call the apartment building but no one answered. He knocked on the door but no one answered. Perhaps the neighbors did not hear or ignored the drunken man screaming outside. They were afraid of criminals and thugs, and besides, it was very late.

The passing of Alexey Zimakov left a huge loss to the world of classical guitar music.

Zimakov stood outside the door waiting to see if anyone came in and then followed. Then, because he was drunk, he fell asleep. When he woke up, his thin gloved hand was frozen, Zimakov suffered frostbite and had to have 8 of his fingers amputated.

Ironically, fate took away his precious hands and it seemed that Zimakov's heart was too damaged after this shock.

In his later years, although he could no longer perform, he still tried to teach his knowledge to students at his hometown music school, Tomsk. Just 5 years after the incident, while teaching students in Rostov, Zimakov suffered a heart attack and passed away on May 21, 2018, at the age of 47.

Many friends and colleagues believe that his heart has been truly “broken” since the unfortunate accident and now we will never hear his magical, enchanting music again.

Alexey Zimakov plays Bazzini's "La Ronde des Lutins" (The Dance of the Dwarfs):

Photos, clips: Documents

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Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/thien-tai-guitar-alexey-zimakov-va-bi-kich-so-phan-2391360.html