Alexey Arkhipovskiy
Moscow, Moscow, Russia | SELF
Music
Press
The stunning Baroque church of St. Ignatius was the setting for a Sunday morning concert of works by Vivaldi and Bach. Later that day, Russian balalaika virtuoso Alexey Arkhipovsky entertained with his fusion of styles from folk to funk, fugue to flamenco, making the silvery sound of only three strings seem like a symphony. He is the modern-day Paganini of the balalaika, but with a Pat Metheny approach. - Today's Zaman (Alexandra Ivanoff) Blog: "An East-West Music Life" http://alexandraivanoff.wordpress.
“Balalaika, come to me!
I’ll start playing – one, two, three...”
Mikhail Vizel (Russian musical portal www.zvuki.ru)
If I had been told that I would have run like crazy to a solo concert of a balalaika player, I would have never believed this! To listen to a former Russian folk ensemble soloist playing only balalaika..? Come on, guys, you are kidding me!
The reason why I am running to his concert is to listen to what Alexey Arkhipovsky managed to do with his classic three string balalaika.
The same thing was done by Jimmy Hendrix with his Fender of 50-s. Jimmy was not the first who ran his fingers that fast on a fingerboard and not the first who cranked up the amplifiers. But he was the first to put a new meaning to electrical guitar playing as a system of guitar itself, an amplifier and electronic sound effects and in fact he was also the first who created a new musical instrument with unbelievable possibilities indeed.
The same thing happened to Paganini when he revolutionized the violin 200 years ago and released it from the church domination.
And now a nice guy Alexey with shining eyes, fair curls and true Russian habits of a minstrel or a buffoon (without any Hendrix voodoo) does the same thing on his balalaika. - Mikhail Vizel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_hljrej7TA&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL2CF2B47FE9FCB6A9 - TV Chanel France 2
Aleksey Arhipovskiy performed so amasingly that the programme should have been closed after that.The world-class Virtuoso plays balalaika so perfectly that it`s beyond understanding. His 10- minute solo completely "closed" all shown up technical guitar tricks and his music was much more inventive ". - Musical site www.zvuki.ru
"The balalaechnik Aleksey Arhipovskiy became a sensation immediately after the first appearance in front of the general public. He practically wrecked the Guitar (!) festival where he played a 10-minute solo number showing incredible musical mastery. It was a real Theatre of inexpressible play and giddy performing numbers, MIME and gesture. Many hearers compared Arhipovskiy no less than with great Jimmy Hendrix! " - Magazin «Audio Video»
“The sounds of three strings now brought on the audience the energy of the Niagara Falls, then soared like a quite crane over a lake surface, then seeped like honey from honeycombs in May.” - AMERICA magazin
“The sounds of three strings now brought on the audience the energy of the Niagara Falls, then soared like a quite crane over a lake surface, then seeped like honey from honeycombs in May.” - AMERICA magazin
Discography
dvd album "Alexey Arkhipovskiy" 2009.
Photos
Bio
Alexey Archipovsky was born in the Krasnodar Region of Russia in the city of Tuapse in 1968. He began studying balalaika at the age of 9, after becoming infected with a love for music from his harmonica- and accordion-playing father. His parents actually wanted to enroll him in music school to study accordion, but the instructors there said that he was too small for that instrument. Fortunately for us, they suggested that a balalaika would be a more appropriate choice for his small stature.
Alexey’s technical virtuosity comes from years of formal schooling (Gnessin State Musical College in Moscow) and training for various competitions, which he began winning as early as 1985 (Third Russian Contest of Folk Instrument Performers).
Upon completing his formal musical training, he joined as a soloist the Smolensk Folk Orchestra. The orchestra wasdirected by the legendary conductor V. Dubrovskiy, who inspired Alex to begin experimenting and testing the limits of his instrument.
later Alex was noticed by the famous Russian folk singer Ludmila Zykina, who invited him in 1998 to the State Academic Russian Folk Ensemble "Russia".That helped him gain entry to international music festivals and festivals of Russian culture around the globe (USA, China, South Korea, Germany, France, Spain, and Bulgaria).
In the past few years the number of invitations for Alexey to perform has steadily increased. He performs solo concerts and participates at the diverce festivals. His almost 90 minutes program is reach, exciting and intertaining and always mets ecstatic audiences reaction. A brief glance at the videos available on the Internet will explain immediately why Alexey’s world-wide popularity is rising rapidly.
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