“I Want to Share the Beauty of the Accordion with the World”

The program will feature works by Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Mozart, Debussy and more. This concert is the culmination of a long-held dream, now coming to fruition.

The event promises to be a star-studded affair, complete with a red carpet and celebrities in attendance, including Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, who will open the show. Aleksei will also perform several songs alongside renowned singers, including one who is an Emmy Award winner. Press, TV, journalists, and photographers will be in attendance to capture this unforgettable evening.

Aleksei will also be performing at the 21st Annual Best Business Awards Ceremony & Gala, featuring the Miss California International Grand Finale on November 8th in Sacramento, CA. We spoke with the artist about preparing for this performance, his unique past, and his remarkable present.

— Aleksei, how did the idea for a concert featuring the accordion as a solo instrument with an orchestra come about?

— It has been a long-held dream of mine. Back in music college, I played in the orchestra and always wanted to be a soloist. I envisioned myself as a soloist with the orchestra accompanying me. In Russia, I performed over 500 shows with a band, but never with an orchestra. Here in the U.S., I had concerts in 2019 in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Salt Lake City, where I performed alone in front of audiences of up to 150 people. Now, the dream I’ve been working towards for so long is finally coming true. I’m turning 35 this year, and after discussing my idea with my wife a year and a half ago, she supported it, and we began working with the team.

— Have you already chosen the theater and started rehearsing with the orchestra?

— Yes, there’s an agreement in place with the orchestra and the venue. After touring Los Angeles, I decided on The Ebell of Los Angeles, which I found to be the most appealing. It’s a historic theater, nearly a hundred years old, with a capacity of 1,200 seats. Many famous individuals have performed there, including politicians, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and artists like Sting, and Stevie Wonder. It truly is a cult venue. I gave considerable thought to the repertoire, reflecting on the audience I want to attract, and ultimately settled on classical music. The combination of a symphonic orchestra with a solo accordion performing classical pieces is quite unconventional. I aim to demonstrate that the accordion can harmoniously blend with classical music.

— So, you decided to treat yourself to this birthday present?

— I was born on November 16, but that day the venue was occupied by a concert featuring Maxim Galkin, who has “stolen” the theater from me (laughs). We aren’t competitors yet, but I believe that day will come.

— Considering one of your main activities in America is as an event host, some might see you as a competitor. How did you get into this business?

— I’ve always dreamed of being independent and started working at the age of 11. My first paid job involved writing zip codes on envelopes. By 16 or 17, I was working at weddings. A close friend from music college, now living in Moscow, was a DJ at weddings. I had a higher scholarship of 425 rubles a month, while he earned 500 rubles for an evening. He was invited to join a Gypsy ensemble, and I essentially took his place.

— Aleksei, did you attend both music college and high school simultaneously?

— I was born and raised in Russia, in Samara. After 9th grade, I entered music college, but also stayed in high school, as only after 11th grade could you enter university. I really wanted to dedicate my life to the accordion. It seemed everything was going according to plan, but at the end of my second year at music college, there was a conflict with a teacher, which literally knocked the ground from under my feet. I was in despair, but my mother, as always, found a way out. “Plan B” – admission to Samara Technical University – was my salvation, although my heart still longed for the accordion.

— How did you manage everything?

— I was studying at the music college and university simultaneously and, instead of resting on weekends, I worked at weddings. I also as a manager at a dance studio, where I had about seven teachers. They were, to put it mildly, not keen on taking orders from a 19-year-old boy. The studio director left for Moscow, planning to open a new studio, and appointed me in charge here. It turned out he intended for the studio to last only a couple of months to extract as much money as possible before closing it down. I wasn’t aware of his plans and eagerly took on the responsibility. Being good with numbers, I managed to balance the books and even turned a profit! However, the studio eventually closed. I had just taken out a loan for a car and was desperately trying to figure out how to avoid losing it.

— And who helped you?

— I began going through my contact list, reaching out to see who might offer me a job. That’s how Giorgii Bordovskikh came into my life. At that time, he was organizing concerts of Russian pop stars in Samara and the region. Now he is the producer of the Children’s Tale Theater and the unique shows “The Nutcracker and the Cats” and “The Wizard of the Emerald City”. We had only spoken once before on the phone. I started working with him in the concert field, and that’s when the idea for the musical band “Smile Band” was born. It became a relatively successful project that gained recognition throughout the region three years later.

— And how did the idea of going to America come about?

— When I graduated from university, Giorgi suggested that we fly to America. We went to Moscow and obtained our visas, but I never actually traveled with him. However, I kept the visa and later traveled to the U.S. in 2012 without him, and then moved to the U.S. in 2015.

— Did you have any idea what you would do in the U.S.?

— Not really, but I had a plan that I would arrive and, within two years, become the king of the country. In a way, that’s exactly what happened. Two years later, I was standing on the stage of the Dolby Theatre, hosting a concert for Leonid Agutin.

— Tell us how you achieved that.

— I spent a year in San Jose before moving to Los Angeles—it felt like a dream come true! But 2016 turned out to be a year of personal crises and challenges, so tough that my mother came out of concern that I might have become a drug addict. I had lost so much weight from stress that I didn’t look good at all. It felt like I had hit rock bottom. In 2017, I finally gathered the strength to rise from the depression. One day, while scrolling through Facebook, I saw an ad for a Maslenitsa Event in Los Angeles. I immediately called the organizers and offered to perform with my accordion. They liked it so much that they began inviting me regularly to their events. Eventually, the host left for personal reasons, and they offered me the position of karaoke host. Their venue was fantastic, and one day, a promoter for Leonid Agutin attended and invited me and the other MC to host the concert. We performed well, and I thought I would wake up famous the next day. Instead, I woke up wondering how I would pay my rent. However, this was when I began to truly develop as a young host, and all of this occurred in California. From there, I moved on to various events and concerts.

— And did you return to your goal of popularizing the accordion?

— Yes, once I achieved my goal of establishing myself as a host in the Russian-speaking community, I aimed for the next step: obtaining documents in America. In 2017, when someone asked how I planned to get them, I replied that I would get a green card when the country recognized me as a talented accordionist, someone who could contribute to society. Indeed, I was recognized and received an EB-1A green card. Now that the country acknowledges me, I feel I must popularize the accordion.

— Do you have any albums?

– Yes, I have a complete album. In 2019, while performing concerts, I also recorded an album featuring the main theme from “Schindler’s List,” highlighting the accordion alongside the orchestra. Recently, I recorded two albums of German Polkas, mainly for commercial purposes. In the past, you needed producers and labels, but now everything is online. With new tools, including AI, production has become much quicker and more interesting.

— Aleksei, you’re also a music teacher, right?

— Yes, I’ve been working in a music school and teaching almost my whole life.

— Do you teach the accordion?

— I primarily teach piano. As for the accordion, I have a few students, mainly those aged 60 and older. That’s also why I wish to promote the accordion.

— How did you fall in love with the accordion? Are your parents musicians?

— My father is a military officer, my mother is an engineer in rocket building, and my brother is a lawyer. I’m the only one in the family like this (laughs). When I was about six, my mother sent me to learn to play the piano. I didn’t like the lessons. My mother spent a lot of time talking with the piano teacher, as if they were friends. They chatted while I ate sandwiches and occasionally played. Meanwhile, my parents had a family friend who was a surgeon, and at family parties, he would always play the accordion. I was inspired and impressed by his music. Later, the piano teacher helped me find an accordion instructor. He mentored me from age 7 to 20 through music school and college. Evgeny Alekseevich Afanasyev has been like a second father to me.

— Aleksei, is there anything you dislike about your work?

— I’m grateful to God for any work, and I always approach it responsibly. I never drink while “on duty,” and I rarely eat. The phrase “I can’t do something” doesn’t exist for me. For instance, during a beauty pageant in 2022, I completely lost my voice half an hour before the event. I didn’t back down; I hosted the event, croaking for two hours straight, and then couldn’t speak for three days. The only thing I can’t tolerate is unprofessionalism.

— You’re playing this concert on November 23. What’s next?

— I spend most of my time on the East Coast in Charlotte, North Carolina, but California remains my second home. I often fly there for work—about 40 flights a year. Next week, I’ll be flying to New York as a guest artist for New York Fashion Week. America isn’t that large a country if you stay active, and then there’s Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. I want to see how this project works in Los Angeles, and then we’ll begin expanding our horizons.