Boris Stepanovich Zakharov, an outstanding Russian pianist and teacher, is the founder of the modern Chinese piano school.
Biography
In a large family in St. Petersburg, where the parents were a timber merchant, one of the main Russian riches, the merchant son Stepan Nikolayevich Zakharov and his wife, Yulia Andreevna (nee Durdina), on December 1, 1987, Boris Stepanovich Zakharov was born.
Boris Zakharov, even before the events of 2017, entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the piano class, where he successfully mastered the skill of playing the piano with Anna Esipova, who at that time was a world-class pianist who had visited many countries with concerts for more than 20 years.
In 1906, Zakharov became a fellow practitioner and friend of Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev. Their meeting took place at the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. Later Boris Zakharov wrote a prelude in C minor in honor of his friend. Zakharov also studied in Germany (Berlin) with Leopold Godowsky, a famous composer and virtuoso pianist.
After graduating from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Zakharov teaches there for seven years.
Marriage to Cecilia Hansen
In 1916, Zakharov met Cecilia Gehenrikhovna Hansen, a native of the village of the Kamenskaya Oblast of the Don Army, in the future - the famous German violinist. They got married the same year and conducted their first tour in the countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula. In 1917, a daughter, Tatyana, was born from marriage, and Tatyana Behr was married.
Until 1921 Boris Zakharov and his wife live in St. Petersburg. At that time, they made acquaintances with very famous and prominent people in Russia. One such acquaintance was a meeting with Ilya Repin. Later, the Zakharovs will be welcome and frequent guests of the evenings held at the artist's estate. In 1922, Repin painted a portrait of Zakharov's wife, Cecilia, which, a century later, would be valued at an auction in Kiev at almost one and a half million dollars.
After the October Revolution, in 1921, the Zakharovs left Russia. Zakharov's star wife is on tour with concerts in the cities of the United States of America. Already at the end of 1920, tired of constantly moving with his wife, Zakharov decides to stay in China. Cecilia continues to tour the West alone. Their marriage is falling apart.
Teaching activities
Remaining in Shanghai, Boris Stepanovich settles in a boarding house in the French region. At that time, visiting musicians received a significant salary for playing in orchestras, taking additional fees for teaching students. At the same time, none of them wanted to teach c.
The musical culture of China at that time was extremely poorly developed. The opening of the Chinese Higher School of Music was fraught with a number of difficulties: the lack of a strong teaching staff, the constant lack of funds for the development of the school. The school's rector, Xiao Yumei, has set himself the task of inviting only outstanding, qualified teachers to teach. The rector invites on special conditions the Russian pianist Boris Stepanovich Zakharov as a particularly outstanding professor and head of the piano department with a salary equal to his own monthly income.
Without much desire, Zakharov agrees to be persuaded to teach at school. For his consent, he receives a decent salary, which at that time was higher than that of other teachers at the school. With great enthusiasm, Boris Stepanovich masters teaching activities, observing the diligence of his Chinese students. Zakharov treated his students strictly, developing an individual approach to each of them. In the process of teaching, Zakharov spoke little, showing by his example the setting of fingers and methods of playing the piano.
From 1929 until his death (1943) Boris Stepanovich Zakharov taught piano in Shanghai. Thanks to his efforts, the world saw the wonderful performance of such pianists as Li Shikun, Xiao Shuxian, Li Cuizhen, Ding Shangde, Li Xianmin, Fan Jiseng, He Luti, Wu Lei, Yi Kaiji, Qiu Fusheng, Lao Bingxin, Wu Yizhou, etc.
The Chinese pianist school has undergone significant improvements thanks to the excellent Russian pianist teacher Boris Zakharov, who made a significant contribution to the development of the Chinese piano art, forming a whole galaxy of renowned virtuoso musicians.
