Pianocrash in the lobby of the Royal Festival Hall, South Bank. Performed by Oleg "Pinocrasher" Lapidus. August 2008.
Acoustic Graffiti performances
Oleg Lapidus, 37, the "Pianocrasher," plays music instruments in public areas where it is NOT allowed to. Come and guess for how long he will stay on stage before security stop him.
"Acoustic Graffiti" is the name of this new kind of performing arts, created by Mr Lapidus. It signifies the spread of graffiti culture into music world. While classic graffiti usually stands for a painting on a prohibited surface, the "acoustic graffiti" is a music performance in a prohibited place at a prohibited time. The difference between the two would be that visual graffiti is a form of street art while "acoustic graffiti" can happen indoors, including the most high profile venues, where classic graffiti would equal vandalism.
The "Pianocrasher" title refers to Italian "piano" - meaning "soft" and can be interpreted as "breaking silence". Talented and versatile musician, Oleg is a virtuoso clarinettist and saxophonist, a skilful pianist, flutist and a music teacher. For this reason his "pianocrashes" involve not only actual piano performances, but also flute, sax and clarinet.
Born in Almaty - the capital city of the Soviet Kazakhstan (close to the birth place of the notorious Borat), Oleg started to play piano at the age of 11 and later decided to learn clarinet. He was accepted to Almaty Musical College (classical clarinet) and upon graduating - to Almaty State Pedagogical University (classical piano, vocal, conducting and teaching) and Almaty State Conservatory (classical clarinet). After successfully graduating both of them with Masters Degree in Music he immigrated to Israel.
In Israel Mr Lapidus studied Jazz in Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music (Jazz Piano Nahum Perferkovich and Jazz Sax Boris Gammer). He played with different Dixieland, Jazz and Jewish wedding bands and he taught clarinet and piano at Jerusalem School of Music.
He also had numerous appearances on TV in programme "7:40" as a musician, singer and an actor. And he was published in Israeli Russian-speaking press. His novel "London Diary of a Street Musician" was a big success.
After 8 years in Israel he immigrated back to Russia and lived in Moscow for 3 years, periodically coming to live to London. He worked on TNT TV channel as a writer, director and editor for the talk show "Okna" ("Windows") there.
In 2006-08 Oleg took part in Klezmer and Jazz festivals in Moscow (Dona-Fest, Yiddish-fest), Klezfest in St. Petersburg and Klezfest in London, Covent Garden Jazz Festival.
Oleg now lives in London, UK where he plays Gypsy Jazz in Quequmbar, Greek music with Greek function band ZOI, Klezmer with different Klezmer bands and solo with his backing tracks in clubs, venues or in the street. He professionally teaches piano, clarinet, sax, flute and vocal.
At the beginning Oleg performs minor graffiti-style crashes, but then he will progress to "pianocrashing" of the major concerts with famous music players. Just before the show starts the acoustic graffitist will come up on stage and crash the piano for the joy of the audience!
Olegs recent "pianocrashes" include the lobby of the iconic buildings on the South Bank - Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Royal National Theatre, a number of top London hotels, including The Dorchester and Grosvenor House in Park Lane, historic Browns Hotel in Mayfair, Waldorf in Strand and prestigious The Ritz, London as well as London restaurants such as glamorous JUST St. James in St. Jamess Street.
On Tuesday, 22nd October 2008 the "Pianocrasher" played a traditional Irish tune on his Irish whistle in one of conference rooms of the Palace of Westminster. This landmark performance truly confirmed the existence of the new kind of art. "Pianocrash involves uncertainty just like any on stage performance and it makes you feel just as vulnerable or even more than a scheduled concert", said Oleg. "Its mission is to break the stereotype and to show that art has no bounds. And it gives people unexpected joy".
Oleg Lapidus, the "Pianocrasher" +44 (0) 79 8465 2608, e-mail: olapidu at gmail dot com
Text and photos: Eugenie Absalom +44 (0) 207 3700464, +44 (0) 7908 596072, e-mail: eugenieabsalom at aol dot com
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Pianocrash at Queen Elizabeth Hallby ThePianocrasher2,145 views
Nice one Oleg !
Keep up the great work
madhed 2 years ago
"Revolutionary" approach!
pianopera 3 years ago
lol wicked! royal festival hall! good job!
ahChoi88 3 years ago