MUSICAL brilliance is not something one would expect from a young Redhill man who is blind with severe learning difficulties.

Despite these obstacles, or perhaps because of them, Derek Paravicini has carved out a career as a remarkable musician.

The 28-year-old, who lives at the RNIB College in Redhill, has played piano with the Royal Philharmonic Pops Orchestra, jammed side-by-side with Jools Holland and appeared at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. Right now he is preparing for a concert with his band, Derek and the Jazz Katz, in South Nutfield.

After being born 25 weeks premature and blinded by oxygen therapy, Derek developed an instinctive understanding of music and sound. He taught himself to play a variety of songs on the piano long before other children his age had even started school.

Coaching from his mentor, Dr Adam Ockelford, professor of music at Roehampton University, has enabled him to hone his natural gift and, even though he has difficulty communicating verbally, he can converse with top musicians through his playing.

Dr Ockelford said: "I first met Derek when he was four and I thought he was amazing. He was blind and did not talk much. He played Don't Cry For Me Argentina. He had obviously taught himself because his way of playing was eccentric but he had great passion for playing piano.

"I am proud of him. I think it's lovely that, despite his difficulties, he has got this wonderful outlet for this creativity. It brings him enormous pleasure to play for people.

"He just loves to play the piano and he has a sense of occasion, for the bigger the audience and the louder the applause, the more he enjoys it."

A new website about Derek, launched at the start of this month, has already registered well over 27,000 hits and a video news segment about him posted on Yahoo!News yesterday attracted over 100 comments in just 24 hours.

Dr Ockelford said: "I think he deserves it. He's a very nice chap and he's got this unique talent so in a sense it is inevitable that people are interested.

"He is surrounded by a group of friends and helpers. We work with Derek and find out what he wants to do and what he doesn't but having said that, he always wants to do everything. We plan month by month but he always has a lot of requests from people asking him to play."

Derek will perform at the Station Hotel in South Nutfield on Sunday, April 20, at 8pm. Entry is free.

Website: www.derekparavicini.net

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