David Helfgott (natural May 19, 1947) is an Australian pianist, natural inside Melbourne to Polish-Jewish parents, whose life inspired Australian director Scott Hicks' Oscar-winning film Shine. He is likewise known for getting schizoaffective disorder when for his soft swimming. His more interests include cats, chess, philosophy, tennis, swimming and keeping fit in general.

Helfgott became called a infant prodigy fallowing his father began teaching him the piano whenever he was sextet. Whilst he was ten years old he exposed under Frank Arndt, the Perth piano teacher, & won many local competitions, every now & again alone and occasionally using his sr. sister Margaret Helfgott.

Once David was xiv, a Australian musical community, led by Perth journalist James Penberthy, & including writer Katharine Susannah Prichard, raised money to enable him to go to United states of america. Still, his father denied him permission, on a evidence that he was non quick for independence (& presumptively the indications of mental symptoms). Whilst he was xix, he won a scholarship to survey at the Royal College of Music for three years, in which he exposed under Cyril Smith.

When you took his period inside London he began showing more definite manifestations of mental infection. His doctor around Australia, Chris Reynolds, whom he met some twenty years late, said that he suffers from either an intense anxiety neurosis. He returned to Perth around 1970, and married his foremost married woman, Clara, around 1971. He likewise participate within many Australian Broadcasting Corporation concerts. Fallowing his marriage broke down he was battle of pittsburgh landing around Graylands, the Perth mental hospital.

Inside 1984, after performing for the few years at a Perth wine bar known as Riccardo's, he met astrologer Gillian Murray. a bit of months late it married, & he continued a successful swimming career throughout the 1980s and 1990s in both Australia & Europe. Inside 1994 he played in Russia, but his globe tour around 1997 met with unfortunate reviews.

Helfgott usually prefers to perform romantic music, mostly Modest Mussorgsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The Helfgott concert is occasionally the bravura performance by having lots of hugging & kissing. Numbers of of his recordings, especially that of Rachmaninoff's third soft concerto, own been criticized when lifeless & barely competent.

David Helfgott today sleep around Happy Valley in New South Wales with his second married woman, Gillian. He continues to perform concerts at his page, 'Heaven'. His manager is Austin Prichard-Levy.

Inside December 1999, David Helfgott was a opener for the "Geniuses, Savants and Prodigies" conference of Allan Snyder's Centre for the Mind. He likewise appeared in rock class action Silverchair's album Neon Ballroom.

Awards
State Finalist ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition (6 days) Time for Peace