Alexandr Misko
Александр Мисько
Alexandr Misko (2017)
Alexandr Misko (2017)
Background information
Born (1997-11-28) 28 November 1997 (age 26)
Krasnodar, Russia
Occupation(s)Musician, guitarist, composer
Instrument(s)guitar
Years active2012–present
Websitehttps://alexandrmisko.com/

Alexandr Misko (Russian: Александр Мисько) (born 28 November 1997), also known as Alex Misko, is a Russian fingerstyle guitarist and musician. He gained fame thanks to cover versions of famous songs published on YouTube and Facebook.[1][2] He is now based in Germany.[1]

Early Life edit

Alexandr Misko was born on 28 November 1997 in Krasnodar, Russia.[1] He started playing guitar at the age of 12, when his parents gave him his first guitar, a classical acoustic guitar.[2][3] He attended private classical guitar lessons for three years.[3] At the age of 14 he became interested in fingerstyle guitar and started teaching himself after hearing music by the famous Canadian guitarist Don Ross.[4][5]

Career edit

In 2015, the attention of the Russian media was attracted by a video, of then 14 year old Alexandr Misko, in which he played the guitar with one hand and taped a desk using a pen in his other hand. The video went viral recieving 500 thousand views on YouTube in four days.[4]

In 2016 Misko’s cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" went viral receiving 30 million views on Facebook and by 2024 it had more than 9 million views on YouTube.[1][2] He published his first album The Songs of Adolescence in 2016.[1]

In 2018, his cover of George Michael's "Careless Whisper" went viral, and by 2024 it had received over 17 million views on YouTube.[2] He spoke at TEDxMannheim 2018 (an independent TED conference in Mannheim) with a speach and performance titled “What if you could make one instrument sound like an entire band?”[6][7] In October 2018 he won "Guitarist of the Year" at the UK Guitar Show (MusicRadar), for which he wrote and performed the composition “Tale of Lost Times”.[1][2][8]

Alexandr Misko has performed at venues across Europe, United Kingdom, United States of America and China.[9] His YouTube videos feature collaborations with other artists including Dmitriy Toporov, Pavel Stepanov, Andrea Valerie and Jon Gomm.

In 2020 he shared the Carnegie Hall stage with harpist Alexander Boldachev.[1] The duo also played live at the 2024 Dutch Harp Festival and their song “Crossroads” was used in the official after movie for the festival.[10]

Discography edit

Year Title Credit
2024 “Zombie” (single) Alexander Boldachev and Alexandr Misko
2021 Take Your Time Alexandr Misko and Dmitriy Toporov
2020 Covers and New Versions, Vol. 2 Alexandr Misko
2019 Covers and New Versions, Vol. 1 Alexandr Misko
2019 Roundtrip Alexandr Misko
2017 Beyond The Box Alexandr Misko
2016 The Songs of Adolescence Alexandr Misko

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Misko, Alexandr. "Alexandr Misko: Bio". Alexandr Misko.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Alexandr Misko An Awesome Guitar Maestro From Russia". The Music Man. 18 June 2020.
  3. ^ a b Chaffin, Kaylee (2018-03-04). "Interview: Alexandr Misko". Beat Media. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  4. ^ a b Ковалевская, Екатерина (2015-01-29). "Школьник из Краснодара покорил YouTube, сыграв "Гитаручку"" (in Russian). Российская газета. Archived from the original on 2018-09-24. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  5. ^ Sharples, Kevin (2018-02-11). "An Exclusive Interview with Alexandr Misko". STAGE PASS. Retrieved 2024-06-01.
  6. ^ TEDxMannheim (30 Mar 2018). "What if you could make one instrument sound like an entire band?". TED Conferences.
  7. ^ Dorn, Lori (2018-05-22). "Guitarist Alexandr Misko Explains and Demonstrates His Incredible Fingerstyle Talent to a TEDx Audience". Laughing Squid. Archived from the original on 2018-11-24. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
  8. ^ "Watch 2018's incredible Acoustic Guitarist of the Year finalists in action". MusicRadar. 10 October 2018.
  9. ^ "Alexandr Misko: Shows". Alexandr Misko.
  10. ^ "Dutch Harp Festival 2024: Line-up". Dutch Harp Festival. Archived from the original on 2024-04-28.

External links edit