Derek Paravicini

Despite having severe disabilities, including blindness and autism (which were brought about through his extremely premature birth 46 years ago), through sheer tenacity and an irrepressible spirit, Derek has risen to become an internationally celebrated virtuoso pianist and musical entertainer, much loved by his many thousands of fans all over the world.

Derek first shot to fame when he was just nine years old, playing jazz with the Royal Philharmonic Pops Orchestra at the Barbican Centre in London. Numerous national and regional television appearances followed, in the UK and overseas. In the last few years, Derek featured in the series Extraordinary People (Channel 5, UK), and on BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. He has appeared in documentaries in Japan, Germany, Australia and the USA – including three times on CBS’s prestigious ‘60 Minutes’ programme. Derek has given concerts in venues across England, in Europe and the USA; among them, Ronnie Scott's renowned jazz club, the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and in Phoenix, Arizona, for Mohammad Ali. He has performed twice at Buckingham Palace. In 2012, Derek played ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and a new piano concerto written specially for him with the Orchestra of St John’s in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. In 2018, he premiered another newly commissioned piano concerto with the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra in San Diego.

There is no doubt that Derek is one of the most extraordinary pianists and musical entertainers of his generation. Yet he is blind, autistic and has severe learning difficulties. Dubbed ‘The Human iPod’ in the USA, Derek has a repertoire of tens of thousands of pieces – all learnt very rapidly, simply by listening to them. There is so much more to Derek than an iPod, though; beneath the quiet charm and thoughtful smile lies a fiery, creative musician, whose astonishing improvisations and dazzling technique have wowed audiences both sides of the Atlantic and, through his numerous media appearances, across the world.

Today, in 2025, Derek is a worldwide phenomenon. He has had over 50 million views on his social media channels, and his revered TED talk https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_paravicini_and_adam_ockelford_in_the_key_of_genius?language=en has been translated into 26 languages. His biography – In the Key of Genius: The Extraordinary Life of Derek Paravicini – was published by Random House in 2008, and serialised in the Mail on Sunday. Derek’s CD, with his jazz quartet (Ben Holder, Hannah Davey and Ollie Howell), has had great reviews on Amazon: ‘This album is absolutely stunning – buy it now!!’ ‘It’s a happiness machine!’ ‘Seriously, it is a classic. Already.’

Dame Stephanie Shirley recently commissioned a portrait of Derek and his teacher, mentor and friend of 40 years, Professor Adam Ockelford, which hangs in the University of Roehampton, London, where Derek holds an honorary doctorate – the only person in the world with severe learning difficulties to have been afforded such an accolade. And, most exciting of all, his early life has been made into a short film, with the screenplay based on In the Key of Genius written by David Seidler, who won an Oscar for ‘The King’s Speech’.