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26/04/2011

Peter White talks to Brazilian pianist Marcelo Bratke, who spent years denying his own blindness. He explains some of the techniques he adopted to conceal his poor vision.

Marcelo Bratke is an acclaimed pianist who was born with complex eye problems. He spent his early life denying his blindness and even concealing the fact from fellow members of the orchestras he played with.
Finally, as an adult, his wife encouraged him to have an operation on both eyes, which although risky, could restore his sight.
The operations were successful and Marcelo speaks of the bright colours he could see for the first time - so bright in fact, that he said they resemble a cartoon.
He says that moving to the UK helped him come to terms with his sight problems and admits that he would have benefitted from going to a special school, but at the time his parents thought they were doing the best thing for him by putting him in mainstream education.
Marcelo learnt to play the piano purely by ear, and became interested when he heard his father playing.

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20 minutes

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Tue 26 Apr 2011 20:40

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  • Tue 26 Apr 2011 20:40

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