Morfoedro

The genius of Alexandre, scientist and musician who “came in from the cold”

The soundtrack of his life is composed of numbers and musical notes

SYMPHONY Alexandre Rodichevski (49) has today produced four CDs whereas two others are about to be released. © Photo Il Giorno

Il Giorno Sunday, 21st August, 2011

DESIO

CURRICULUM

Degree in physics

Former professor and researcher

HIS CHOICE IN LIFE

He came to Italy out of love for Gloria and works today as a manager

 

He is a scientist by education, manager by profession, and musician by hobby. Almost like a “three-in-one” phenomenon, Alexandre Rodichevski, is 49 years old and a Desio citizen, by adoption. He graduated in physics at the State University of Novosibirsk where he also taught.

Alongside this, he conducted research activities in the Institute of Automation and Electrometry, the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. To this day he has published scientific articles and has patented a method of surface tension determination. Also an informatics specialist, he works in Milan and lives in Desio. His home is a “house of culture” teeming with old books, paintings, a piano and an ultra-modern PC, thanks to which he composes his experimental music. Furthermore, he delights in writing non-scientific articles, stories and poems in Italian. And lastly, he is the cofounder of a portal for art and culture: www.morfoedro.it.

«How did I arrive in Desio from Siberia? – a smile breaks out here – Out of love: I had visited Italy for a brief period, I met Gloria, and we fell in love... Then I returned to Russia, but we kept in touch, and she came to visit me twice.» Then came the final decision: we married and settled down here in the Brianza region where she lived. «I feel very much at home in Italy, I am happy – he continues - I do not miss my country particularly. I used to work as a scientist, but work was scarce and so I decided to move here, form a family and change my life completely.» A few months after he married, he immediately found a good job in a service company in Milan, and in his free time, cultivates his life-long passion: music. He strings along melodies, CDs and great satisfaction, in a “sound track” that is just beginning to take shape.

Being a scientist, you never know what he may conjure up one day…

 

© Photo Il Giorno

Who knows, this could be the person who will finally succeed in making equations and square roots a trend, appreciated even by those students who stomach maths less than red peppers at breakfast. And this person is Alexandre Rodichevski from polar Siberia, one who transforms cold numbers into warm tunes. No wonder he is thinking of creating a laboratory on the genre, for the high school students of Brianza. A scientist and musician, this 49 year old culture chest who has been living in Desio for 14 years now with his wife Gloria Chiappani, could be defined as a sort of “pi” musician, given that precisely the renowned decimal number used to measure circles was the object of his first cocktail experimentation.

«I started in 2009 - says Sasha, with his gentle and refined tone and in almost perfect Italian - and also thanks to my training as an IT manager in a service company in Milan – I do all my compositions at the computer. I naturally tend to experiment and this leads me to explore new musical worlds.» I inherited this passion from my father who plays classical guitar, and which I developed in school in Siberia, studying the piano at the age of seven. This was cultivated with continuous listening to music of all kinds, folk, jazz, rock, pop, or classics: his ears are like radars that capture and send signals to the mind, which he then re-elaborates even when he is asleep. «This happened and often occurs – Alexandre explains – I dream of music pieces, and awake to write them immediately on the computer; or else I hum or whistle them since they get impressed in my head and are later transformed into notes. At a certain point I realized that at times, I was not reproducing in my mind things I had already heard, but was creating original music.»

IN MY MIND… «I compose my works on the computer Experimentation is part of my character, and leads me to continually explore new worlds   The CDs take up various themes: nature, man, work and time I entrusted them to important musicians who have given positive feedbacks   I really do not miss any particular aspect of my country Back home I worked as a scientist, but work was scarce so I decided to move to Brianza where I married and changed my life»   ALEXANDRE RODICHEVSKI   © Photo Il Giorno

As to nocturnal notes, like those of Paul McCartney which inspired the mythical song, Yesterday, «he dreamt of the melody - Alexandre recounts – and was convinced he had heard it somewhere. Instead, it was his own tune and it became Yesterday.» This Brianza-adopted scientist still has not had a similar intuition, but has compiled in a few years, four CDs and other two are on the way: one inevitably is entitled Ars mathematica a compilation of his experiments, a mix of test tubes, teeming with notes and numbers («The aim of this work – he underlines – is to help his listeners to regard maths not as an arid subject or for experts in the field, but as a source of beauty, from which it comes to merge with the musical art.»); the others are entitled, Minutes, Cosmologies, and The elements of Quietness.

«Various themes are taken up – he says - nature, man and his daily life, work, and time. I entrusted them to various important musicians who give me their feedback; fortunately, all have been positive. I would like to work together with some of them to do some projects.»

In his personal projects, are two other CDs (one even transforms Chinese ideograms into music) and the transformation of his "ars mathematica" in a book on theory and practice. «I have spoken about this with some artists who showed great interest - he continues - I gave some lessons on the relationship between the two subjects, also here in Desio, as a complementary activity to an exhibition by my wife.» Precisely together with Gloria, to integrate the passion for culture and art, he has planned courses in music, mathematics and poetry in schools, which could be implemented concretely next year. And the return to dreams which Alexandre Rodichevski could very clearly experience with eyes wide open, meant to «compose music for a theatrical work, films or even ballets.»

Translation by Yolanda Rillorta