Alexey Borozdin

Alexey Ivanovich Borozdin was a Soviet music teacher born on March 29, 1937, in Kursk. He graduated from Kursk Music College in 1957 and later studied at L'vov Music School until 1961, when he began his teaching career. He completed his formal education at Novosibirsk Music School in 1976.

Borozdin moved to Siberia in 1962 and started teaching cello at a children's music school, discovering many talented young cellists. His students won over 70 competitions, including the International Cello Competition in Cremona, Italy, in 1997. The school gained national recognition and was placed under the auspices of Novosibirsk in 1998.

In the 1960s-80s, Borozdin played in the Academia orchestra in Akademgorodok. He also transcribed over 6,000 pages of scores by Josef Mysliveček, an 18th-century Czech composer, into modern notation during the 1970s-80s. In 1993, he was awarded the honorary title of Distinguished Culture Worker of Russia.

Borozdin founded a music and art therapy school for mentally handicapped children in 1991, supported by international foundations like the George Soros Foundation. He was also a member of the Russian Guild of Journalists. In 1997, he received one of the first George Soros Russian Zealot Prizes for his work with disabled children.

Borozdin is considered a founder of "habilitation," an educational field focused on developing skills in severely challenged children. His school's work is documented in the book *Studies on Children Habilitation: A History of Borozdin School*, published in Novosibirsk in 2000.