Alexei Aigui

Alexei Aigui
Alexei Aigui in 2021
Background information
Born (1971-07-11) 11 July 1971 (age 53)
OriginRussia
Genresminimalist music
Occupation(s)musician, composer
Instrumentviolin
Years active1994–present
LabelsSoLyd, Music Box, Lakeshore, Leo Records
Member of4'33" Ensemble
Websitewww.facebook.com/AlexeiAiguimusic/

Aleksey Aygi (stylized as Alexei Aigui, born 11 July 1971) is a Russian composer, violinist, and leader of the 4'33" Ensemble.[1]

Biography and career

Aleksey Aygi in 2010

Aigui is ethnically Chuvash and the son of Chuvash national poet Gennadiy Aygi.[2]

A graduate of Moscow's State Music and Pedagogical Institute,[3] Aigui's work has been noted for its minimalist aesthetics. This investment in minimalism led Aigui to name his band after the John Cage composition 4′33″, the score for which instructs performers to refrain from playing their instruments. In 1994, Aigui debuted his 4'33" Ensemble at the Moscow International Festival of Modern Music,[4] with another early performance taking place at the 1996 "European Days in Samara" festival.

Aigui is a prolific composer who has scored dozens of films and television programs, including Country of the Deaf, which received the Russian Guild of Film Critics Award for Best Score;[5] Wild Field, which received a Nika Award,[6] Golden Eagle Award,[7] and Kinotavr Award for Best Music, as well as the White Elephant Award for Best Composer; and the widely-acclaimed I Am Not Your Negro, which was nominated for a Cinema Eye Honors Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score.[8]

Discography

Leader or co-leader

Release year Title Label Notes
2001 Musique Cyrillique SoLyd with Pierre Bastien
2002 Aigui & Bonnen Play the Music of Jimi Hendrix: Up From The Skies SoLyd with Dietmar Bonnen
2003 Aigui & Bonnen Play The Music Of Frank Zappa: Black Water SoLyd with Dietmar Bonnen
2008 The Closer SoLyd solo
2009 Aigui & Bonnen Play the Music of Kurt Weill: Nightshift SoLyd with Dietmar Bonnen

with Ensemble 4'33"

Release year Title Label Notes
1997 Sisters Grimm Tales SoLyd Records ft. the NeTe
1997 Falls Long Arms Records
1998 Hearts (Сердца) SoLyd
1999 Taxidermy SoLyd
1999 One Second Hand (Music For Kinetic Theatre) SoLyd
2001 Equus SoLyd
2002 Happiness, Fame And Fortune SoLyd
2003 Mix SoLyd ft. Mina Agossi
2005 Live @ Loft SoLyd
2012 Hard Disc SoLyd
2016 Sergey Kuryokhin: The Spirit Lives Leo Records

Selected filmography

Release year Film Soundtrack Label Awards
1998 Country of the Deaf (soundtrack: Les Silencieuses) Sergent Major Recording Golden Aries Award for best score; Nika Award nominee
1998 Retro vtroyom
1998 Chastnye kroniki. Monolog
2000 Kamenskaya: Chuzhaya maska
2002 The Lover[9] Golden Aries nominee; Nika nominee
2004 My Step Brother Frankenstein
2004 Kvartirka (TV series)
2004 Mars
2004 Ragin
2005 The Fall of the Empire (TV series)
2005 The Wedding Chest Golden Aries nominee
2006 Charell
2006 Mans virs Andrejs Saharovs
2006 Made in Paris (Je pense à vous)
2007 Sishik Poutilin (TV series)
2008 The Great Alibi[10]
2008 Snezhnyy angel
2008 Wild Field Music Box Records Golden Eagle, Nika, and Kinotavr Awards for Best Music; White Elephant Award for Best Composer
2008 Ochen russkiy detektiv
2009 L'école du pouvoir
2009 Can't Say No (Je ne dis pas non)
2009 Moloch Tropical
2011 Hop-o'-My-Thumb (Le petit poucet)
2012 The Horde SoLyd Records
2012 Rondo
2012 Looking for Hortense[11]
2014 Vychislitel
2015 Orlean Nika Nominee; White Elephant for Best Composer
2015 V dalyokom sorok pyatom... Vstrechi na Elbe Nika for Best Music
2015 Krasnaya koroleva (TV series)
2016 I Am Not Your Negro Music Box Records / Lakeshore Records Cinema Eye Honors Award Nominee
2016 Mata Hari (TV series) APKiT nominee for Best Music in a TV Movie/Series
2017 The Young Karl Marx
2017 André
2017 Doktor Rikhter (TV series)
2017 Our Little Secret
2018 Assia
2019 Good as New
2019 The Truth (La vérité) Music Box Records

References

  1. ^ "Alexei Aigui on Scoring the Breakthrough Documentary I am Not Your Negro". Score It Magazine. 24 February 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  2. ^ France, Peter (24 February 2006). "Gennady Aygi: Avant garde Russian poet and friend of Pasternak, his career blossomed with the advent of perestroika". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  3. ^ "Concert-presentation at the State Musical Pedagogical Institute named after M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russia". European Foundation for Support of Culture. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  4. ^ "The Jubilee Neoclassism of Alexei Aygi". Erarta Museum. 17 August 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  5. ^ "1998". KINOPRESSA. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  6. ^ Hercules, Olia (6 April 2009). "Russian musical Hipsters scoops best film at Nika Awards". Screen International. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  7. ^ Holdsworth, Nick (26 January 2009). "'Wild Field' wins Russian Eagle". Variety. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  8. ^ Erbland, Kate (11 January 2017). "Cinema Eye Honors 2017 Winners List". IndieWire. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  9. ^ Cockrell, Eddie (1 October 2002). "The Lover". Variety. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  10. ^ Mintzer, Jordan (11 May 2008). "The Great Alibi". Variety. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  11. ^ van Hoeij, Boyd (31 August 2012). "Cherchez Hortense". Variety. Retrieved 6 January 2021.