Ragtime To Radiohead

World-class muscians will be descending on Tetbury at the end of this month to play in the beautiful parish church of St Mary’s. Among them is musical prodigy Derek Paravicini

Derek Paravicini is a blind, autistic savant and musical prodigy. He played for the late Princess Diana and has featured in numerous television documentaries about his life, including Channel 5’s Extraordinary People and Stan Lee’s Superhumans.

He will open this year’s wonderful Tetbury Music Festival, which takes place from September 28 to October 6. We caught up with him for a quick chat about his incredible life.

I understand that you can play any piece of music after hearing it once, which is an exceptional gift! Can you tell me how and when you first discovered this?

The very first person to notice I had this ability was my sister, Libbet. I was about two years old and my nanny had given me a toy piano from Woolworths.

I had been to church earlier in the day, and when we came home, Libbet heard me playing a hymn that we had sung together in church. That was the first time anyone realised I was able to hear something and then play it back on my piano.

I did that for a couple of years, just playing things that I heard. I taught myself, and played with my fingers, elbows and nose… not being able to see, of course, I’d never seen anyone play, so I didn’t know how it was supposed to be done!

I didn’t have lessons until I was about four. That’s when I met Adam Ockelford, who is Professor of Music at the University of Roehampton. He took me under his wing, gave me lessons, sorted out my technique, and stopped me using my nose and elbows!