Windellama recorder player a 'musical prodigy'

Alexei wowed crowds at the recent 'Concavitate 3' event at the Goulburn Regional Conservatorium, where he dressed as a monk and played medieval style music.

He plays different sizes of recorder: a sopranino (which is tiny), a descant, a treble, and a tenor recorder. He says the treble recorder is his favourite.

"I just love the sound that a recorder makes," Alexei said. "They can be so soft and calm. I also like it because it is so different to so many other styles of instrument. Many other kids who learn instruments here at the GRC go for instruments such as the guitar or piano. I wanted to do something different."

Alexei first breathed life into a recorder when in Year 3 at Windellama Public School, having initially wanted to learn the violin before a fateful change of mind.

"I started lessons with (GRC performance and outreach manager) Keva Abotomey, but have switched to lessons on Skype with an iPad in her office at the Conservatorium with recorder teacher Hannah Coleman, who is based in Melbourne."

In mid September, Alexei will travel to China with the State Recorder Ensemble as part of the 'Expanding Horizons' NSW public schools tour.

"Most of the 115 students going on this tour are from public schools in Sydney,' he said. "Myself and another girl from Murwillimbah are the only regional students involved with the 15 members of the State Recorder Ensemble who are included in this travelling party."

The group will be doing a mixture of sightseeing, performing at local schools and concert halls in cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing and Zhengzhou.

But the highlight of them all, Alexei says, will be a possible performance at the Disneyland complex in Shanghai.