This article is written like a personal reflection or essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (February 2009)

Direct-to-video (also known as direct-to-DVD, direct-to-iTunes, direct-to-VHS, direct-to-digital, made-for-video, straight-to-video, and straight-to-DVD) is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats (historically VHS) without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television.^[1] The term is also at times used as a derogatory term for films or sequels of films that are of inferior quality or are not expected to find financial success. Direct-to-video releases have become something of a lifeline for independent filmmakers and smaller companies.^[2]

Reasons for releasing direct-to-video[link]

A production studio may decide not to generally release a TV show or film for several possible reasons: poor quality, lack of support from a TV network, negative reviews, controversial nature, or a simple lack of general public interest. Studios, limited in the annual number of films to which they grant cinematic releases, may choose to pull the completed film from the theaters, or never exhibit it in theaters at all. Studios then generate additional revenue through video sales and rentals.^[3]

Direct-to-video releases have historically carried a stigma of lower technical or artistic quality than theatrical releases.^[4] Some films released direct-to-video are films which have been completed but were never released. This delay often occurs when a studio doubts a film's commercial prospects would justify a full cinema release, or because its "release window" has closed. A release window refers to a timely trend or personality, and missing that window of opportunity means a film, possibly rushed into production, failed to release before the trend faded. In film industry slang such films are referred to as having been "vaulted."^[5]

Direct-to-video releases can be done for films which cannot be shown theatrically due to controversial content, or because the cost involved in a theatrical release is beyond the releasing company.^[6]

Animated sequels and feature-length episodes of animated series are also often released in this fashion.^[6] The Walt Disney Company began making sequels of most of its animated films for video release beginning with The Return of Jafar (the sequel to Aladdin) in 1994. Universal Studios also began their long line of The Land Before Time sequels that same year.

Studios may also release sequels or spin-offs to a successful live action film straight to DVD. These are commonly referred to as "cheapquels"^[7] due to the lack of quality and budget in comparison to the original. Examples are the Behind Enemy Lines series of films.

The family film segment is a major part of direct-to-video sales. According to the LA Times,

"Often, the downfall of live-action family films at the box office is their strength on video. Their appeal is to families with young children, who may go to only a couple of movies per year but who will watch many videos multiple times. The teens and young adults who drive blockbuster box-office statistics stay away from family movies."^[8]

Direct-to-video films screened theatrically[link]

Occasionally, a studio that makes a movie that was prepared as a direct-to-video film will release it theatrically at the last minute due to the success of another film with a similar subject matter or an ultimate studio decision. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is an example of this. However, despite the movie's critically acclaimed success, its box-office performance was very poor, which has been blamed on its last minute decision to be released theatrically. The film had much better commercial success in its subsequent home video releases. Another example which garnered a large cult following is the 2001 psychological thriller Donnie Darko, which was originally slated for a direct-to-video release^{[citation needed]}. Doug's 1st Movie was also intended as a direct-to-video release, but due to the success of The Rugrats Movie, it went into the theaters in Spring 1999. While the film did poorly with critics, it was a moderate box-office success.

Other times, a direct-to-video movie may get a limited theatrical screening in order to build excitement for the actual release of the video such as was done for 2010's Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths and Planet Hulk.^[9]

"DVD Premiere"[link]

As DVDs gradually replaced videocassettes, the term "direct-to-DVD" replaced "direct-to-video" in some instances.^[10] However, the word "video" does not necessarily refer to VHS cassettes. Many publications continue to use the term direct-to video for DVDs or Blu-ray Discs. The new term sometimes used is DVDP ("DVD Premiere").^[11] Such films can cost as much as $20 million^[12] (about a third of the average cost of a Hollywood release^[13]) Some direct-to-video releases also feature moderately well-known actors, such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, and Cuba Gooding, Jr..^[12] Salaries for such actors range from $2 to $4 million (Van Damme) to $4.5 to $10 million (Seagal).^[12] According to Variety, American Pie: Band Camp sold a million copies in one week, despite retaining only two actors from the original trilogy.^[14]

In recent years, DVD Premieres have become a substantial source of revenue for film studios. DVDPs have collectively grossed over $3 billion over the last few years,^[12] and have matured enough that the DVDP divisions of studios now option their own films^{[citation needed][further explanation needed]}. Studios have determined that DVDP films can be shot on a smaller budget, thus allowing studios larger profits with the combined revenues of home video sales and rentals^{[citation needed]}, in addition to licensing films for television and for distribution abroad (where some DVDP films do see theatrical releases)^{[citation needed]}.

Distributing DVDPs is not a practice reserved solely for larger Hollywood studios. Several companies, such as The Asylum, MTI Home Video, and York Entertainment distribute DVDPs almost exclusively^{[citation needed]}. The budgets for films distributed by these companies are even smaller than those of ones distributed by a larger studio, but these companies are still able to profit fromtheir sales.^{[citation needed]}

Direct-to-iTunes[link]

Direct-to-iTunes is a online distribution method that avoids all upfront DVD production, marketing and distribution costs as well as upfront cinema distribution and marketing costs. It has revolutionized short film distribution and on occasion has been used for feature length films.^[15] Apple distributes the film for 30% of the revenue, while an additional 10-15% may go to the person who formats the film for iTunes compatibility.^[15] The first independently produced feature length motion picture to pursue the direct-to-iTunes marketing scheme was Ed Burns' Purple Violets, which debuted on iTunes on November 20, 2007. It was the first feature length film to "premiere exclusively on iTunes". It was distributed exclusively on iTunes at a price of US$14.99 for a month before being made available through other distribution channels.^[16] The movie, which was produced at a cost of $4 million, had premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, where it was reviewed positively, but only received modest distribution offers.^[15] At the time of the Purple Violets release, most studios were not distributing via iTunes early in the process and only Walt Disney Studios, which was the first movie studio to distribute via iTunes,^[15] was distributing at iTunes simultaneously with DVD distribution.^[17] It was not very common for consumers to make digital movie purchases at the time.^[18] The Polish brothers' 2011 For Lovers Only, which had virtually no production costs and was released to iTunes on July 12, is regarded as the first profitable feature length direct-to-iTunes product.^[19] The direct-to-iTunes method is also becoming common with both books and music.

When Purple Violets was released, several short films had already been distributed through iTunes. Previously, marketing of short films had been prohibitive. However, Apple distributed the February 25, 2007 79th Academy Awards nominees for the Animated Shorts, Live Action Shorts and Documentary Shorts as well as half of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival shorts, beginning a new era.^[15]

The V-Cinema and OVA markets in Japan[link]

In Japan, direct-to-video titles referred to as "Original Video" (オリジナルビデオ) carry different connotations, being a niche product rather than a fallback. Despite having lower budgets than features intended for theater release, Japanese direct-to-video productions are rarely marred by the poor storyline and lower quality production often associated with the DTV market in the US. So-called V-Cinema has more respect from the public, and affection from film directors for the greater creative freedoms the medium allows. DTV releases are subject to fewer content restrictions and less creative dictates than other formats.

In the case of anime, this is called Original Video Animation (OVA or OAV), and their production values usually fall between those of TV shows and movies. They're often used to tell stories too short to fill a full TV season, and were particularly common in the early 1990s. Sometimes OVAs garner enough interest to justify commissioning a full TV show, such as Tenchi Muyo!, El Hazard, and Read or Die.

With the advent of the 13 episode season format, OVAs are less common now. This isn't to say that they are non-existent: For example, Elfen Lied features 13 episodes and an OVA. The majority of OVAs released in today's market are usually continuations or reworkings of recently completed TV show. For instance, the DVD release of a TV show might include a bonus episode that was never broadcast as a sales hook.

See also[link]

• B movie
• Home video
• List of Disney direct-to-video films
• Television film
• V-Cinema
• Category:Direct-to-video films for a list of Direct-to-video productions.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Mike Mayo (1997). VideoHound's Video Premieres: The Only Guide to Video Originals and Limited Releases. Visible Ink Press. pp. 431. ISBN 0-7876-0825-4. 

External links[link]

• Movie critic on the future of Direct-to-DVD
• 9 Movies Too Awful for the Theater by The Daily Beast Video

Ryan Lewis
Ryan Lewis (back) performing with Macklemore (front) at Sasquatch! Music Festival
Background information
Born	(1988-03-25) March 25, 1988 (age 24) Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Origin	Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Producer, DJ
Years active	2006–present
Associated acts	Macklemore
Website	rlewis.com

Ryan Lewis (born March 25, 1988) is an American music producer, musician, music video director, photographer, graphic designer, rapper and DJ currently based in Seattle. He is best known for his collaboration with American rapper Macklemore (Ben Haggerty) producing Macklemore & Ryan Lewis — The VS. EP (2009), The Heist (2012) and a handful of other singles. Since the beginning of their collaboration in late 2008, Ryan has produced, recorded, engineered and mixed all of the music, directed music videos ("Same Love", "Thrift Shop", "And We Danced", "Otherside (Remix)"), designed visuals (album art, web design, posters) and DJed the live show.

In a recent mini-documentary, Lewis recalled meeting Macklemore for the first time. "When I met him, it was a really different time. It was less than a year after [2005's] Language of My World had come out. So he had buzz. For me being a young kid, it was very exciting to link with him. The bulk of our original relationship was photo shoots. I became kind of his photographer."^[1]

[edit] The Heist

On October 9, 2012, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis released The Heist. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts and #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top Rap Albums, selling 78,000 copies in the first week.^[2] The album also debuted at #1 on iTunes Digital Albums chart.^[3] The duo's album has received more than 1 million plays on SoundCloud, 70 million YouTube views and was accompanied by a sold-out 50-date U.S. and Canadian tour.^[4]

Discography[link]

(All credited to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis)

Studio albums[link]

EPs

Singles[link]

Notes[link]

• A ^ "Wing$" did not enter the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but peaked at number 7 on the Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, which acts as an extension to the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[27]
• B ^ "Same Love" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 25 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, which acts as an extension to the Hot 100.^[28]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

de:Ryan Lewis

Randy Pausch
Randy Pausch
Born	(1960-10-23)October 23, 1960 Baltimore, Maryland, US
Died	July 25, 2008(2008-07-25) (aged 47) Chesapeake, Virginia, United States Pancreatic cancer
Nationality	American
Fields	Computer science Human Computer Interaction
Institutions	Carnegie Mellon University University of Virginia
Alma mater	Brown University Carnegie Mellon University
Doctoral advisor	Alfred Spector
Known for	Creator of Alice software project Cofounder of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center Virtual Reality Research with Disney Imagineers Inspirational speeches regarding life #1 best-selling book Battle with cancer
Notable awards	Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education Fellow of the ACM Time's Time 100[1]
Spouse	Jai Glasgow

Randolph Frederick "Randy" Pausch^[2] (October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) was an American professor of computer science and human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Pausch learned that he had pancreatic cancer in September 2006, and in August 2007 he was given a terminal diagnosis: "3 to 6 months of good health left". He gave an upbeat lecture titled "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" on September 18, 2007, at Carnegie Mellon, which became a popular YouTube video and led to other media appearances. He then co-authored a book called The Last Lecture on the same theme, which became a New York Times best-seller.

Pausch died of complications from pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008.

Early life[link]

Pausch was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Columbia, Maryland.^[2] After graduating from Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, Pausch received his bachelor's degree in computer science from Brown University in May 1982 and his Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University in August 1988.^{[3][not in citation given]} While completing his doctoral studies, Pausch was briefly employed at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and Adobe Systems.^[4]

Computer science career[link]

Pausch was an assistant and associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science from 1988 until 1997. While there, he completed sabbaticals at Walt Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts (EA). In 1997, Pausch became Associate Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction and Design, at Carnegie Mellon University. He was a co-founder in 1998, along with Don Marinelli, of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), and he started the Building Virtual Worlds^[5] course at CMU and taught it for 10 years. He consulted with Google on user interface design and also consulted with PARC, Imagineering, and Media Metrix.^[4] Pausch is also the founder of the Alice software project.^[6] He received the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award and was a Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellow.^[7] Pausch was the author or co-author of five books and over 70 articles.

Pausch received two awards from ACM in 2007 for his achievements in computing education: the Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award and the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education.^[8] He was also inducted as a Fellow of the ACM in 2007.

Cancer and death[link]

Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer^[9][10] and underwent a Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy) on September 19, 2006, in an unsuccessful attempt to halt his pancreatic cancer.^[11] He was told in August 2007 to expect a remaining three to six months of good health. He soon moved his family to Chesapeake, Virginia, a suburb near Norfolk, to be close to his wife's family. On March 13, 2008, Pausch advocated for greater federal funding for pancreatic cancer before the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies.^[12] In the week prior to this, he had been hospitalized in order to have needle aspiration of pleural effusion in his right lung.^[13]

On May 2, 2008, a positron emission tomography (PET) scan showed that he had very tiny (5 millimetres (0.20 in) or less) metastases in his lungs and some lymph nodes in his chest. He also had some metastases in his peritoneal and retroperitoneal cavities. On June 26, 2008, Pausch indicated that he was considering stopping further chemotherapy because of the potential adverse side effects. He was, however, considering some immuno-therapy-based approaches.^[14] On July 24, on behalf of Pausch, a friend anonymously posted a message on Pausch's webpage stating that a biopsy had indicated that the cancer had progressed further than what was expected from recent PET scans and that Pausch had "taken a step down" and was "much sicker than he had been". The friend also stated that Pausch had then enrolled in a hospice program designed to provide palliative care to those at the end of life.^[14]

Wikinews has related news: "Last Lecture" Professor Randy Pausch dies at age 47

Pausch died from pancreatic cancer at his family's home in Chesapeake, Virginia on July 25, 2008, at the age of 47. He is survived by his wife, Jai, and their three children, Dylan, Logan, and Chloe.^[15]

[edit] Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Pausch delivered his "Last Lecture", titled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, at CMU on September 18, 2007.^[16] He gave an abridged version of his speech on the Oprah show in October 2007.^[17][18] The talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk", with a topic such as "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?" Before speaking, Pausch received a long standing ovation from a large crowd of over 400 colleagues and students. When he motioned them to sit down, saying, "Make me earn it," someone in the audience shouted back, "You did!"^[9][19]

During the lecture, Pausch was upbeat and humorous, alternating between wisecracks, insights on computer science and engineering education, advice on building multi-disciplinary collaborations, working in groups and interacting with other people, offering inspirational life lessons, and performing push-ups on stage. He also commented on the irony that the "Last Lecture" series had recently been renamed as "Journeys", saying, "I thought, damn, I finally nailed the venue and they renamed it."^[15] After Pausch finished his lecture, Steve Seabolt, on behalf of Electronic Arts—which is now collaborating with CMU in the development of Alice 3.0^[20]—pledged to honor Pausch by creating a memorial scholarship for women in computer science, in recognition of Pausch's support and mentoring of women in CS and engineering.^[9]

CMU president Jared Cohon spoke emotionally of Pausch's humanity and called his contributions to the university and to education "remarkable and stunning".^[21] He then announced that CMU will celebrate Pausch's impact on the world by building and naming after Pausch a raised pedestrian bridge^[22] to connect CMU's new Computer Science building and the Center for the Arts, symbolizing the way Pausch linked those two disciplines. Brown University professor Andries van Dam followed Pausch's last lecture with a tearful and impassioned speech praising him for his courage and leadership, calling him a role model.^[21][23][24]

The Randy Pausch Memorial Footbridge was dedicated on October 30, 2009, with Jai, Dylan, Logan and Chloe Pausch cutting the ribbon.

[edit] The Last Lecture

The Disney-owned publisher Hyperion paid $6.7 million for the rights to publish a book about Pausch called The Last Lecture, co-authored by Pausch and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeffrey Zaslow.^[25] The book became a New York Times best-seller on April 28, 2008.^[26] The Last Lecture expands on Pausch's speech. The book's first printing had 400,000 copies, and it has been translated into 46 languages. It has spent more than 85 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, and there are now more than 4.5 million copies in print in the U.S. alone. Despite speculation that the book would be made into a movie, Pausch had denied these rumors, stating that "there's a reason to do the book, but if it's telling the story of the lecture in the medium of film, we already have that."^[27]

Media coverage[link]

Pausch was named "Person of the Week" on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson on September 21, 2007.^[28] His "Last Lecture" attracted wide attention from the international media,^[29] became an Internet hit, and was viewed over a million times in the first month after its delivery.^[30] On October 22, 2007, Pausch appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show where he discussed his situation and summarized his "Last Lecture".^[18] On October 6, 2007, Pausch joined the Pittsburgh Steelers for the day during their regular practice, after the organization learned that one of his childhood dreams mentioned in his "Last Lecture" was to play in the NFL.^[31] On April 9, 2008, the ABC network aired an hour long Diane Sawyer feature on Pausch titled "The Last Lecture: A Love Story For Your Life".^[32][33] On July 29, 2008, ABC aired a follow up to the Last Lecture special, remembering Pausch and his famous lecture.^[34]

Other lectures and appearances[link]

Pausch gave a lecture about time management^[35] on November 27, 2007 at the University of Virginia, to an audience of over 850 people.^[36] In March 2008, Pausch appeared in a public service announcement video^[37] and testified before Congress in support of cancer research.^[38] On May 18, 2008, Pausch made a surprise return appearance at Carnegie Mellon, giving a speech at the commencement ceremony,^[39] as well as attending the School of Computer Science's diploma ceremony,^[40] and on May 19 Pausch appeared on the Good Morning America show.^[41] His lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", was nominated at the 2007 YouTube Video Awards.^[42][43]

A devoted Star Trek fan, Pausch was invited by film director J. J. Abrams to film a role in Star Trek. Abrams heard of Pausch's condition and sent a personal e-mail inviting Pausch to the set. Pausch accepted and traveled to Los Angeles, California to shoot his scene. In addition to appearing in the film, he also has a line of dialogue at the beginning of the film ("Captain, we have visual.") and donated the $217.06 paycheck to charity.^[44][45]

Honors[link]

• The Pittsburgh City Council declared November 19, 2007 to be "Dr. Randy Pausch Day".^[46]
• In May 2008, Pausch was listed by Time as one of the World's Top-100 Most Influential People.^[1]
• Randy was named Pittsburgher of the Year 2008.^[47]
• On May 30, 2008, Randy received a letter from then President George W. Bush thanking him for his commitment to the Nation's youth.^[48]
• On February 4, 2009, The Walt Disney Company dedicated a tribute plaque at Walt Disney World near the "Mad Tea Party" attraction with a quote by Randy that reads "Be good at something; It makes you valuable ... Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome."^[49]
• The Walt Disney Company also created the Disney Memorial Pausch Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University, which will support two graduate students.^[50]
• Per Jared Cohon's announcement on the day of the Last Lecture, a raised pedestrian bridge at CMU that connects the Gates Computer Science building and the Purnell Center for the Arts is named after Pausch, symbolizing the way he linked the two disciplines.^[22]

Other publications[link]

• Adding input and output to the transactional model (Research paper, CMU), 1988
• Dann, Wanda P.; Cooper, Stephen; Pausch, Randy (2005-07-25). Learning to Program with Alice. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-187289-3. http://www.aliceprogramming.net/. 
• Pausch, Randy (2008-08-07). Time Management. ISBN 0-9820556-3-3. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Quotations related to Randy Pausch at Wikiquote
• Randy Pausch's Home Page at Carnegie Mellon University
• News about Randy Pausch at the University of Virginia
• Randy Pausch's Publications on Google Scholar
• Randy Pausch at the Internet Movie Database

Videos

• The last lecture of Randy Pausch at Youtube
• The last lecture of Randy Pausch at iTunes U
• "Time Management" by Randy Pausch, November 2007 at Google Video (presentation slides)
• Randy Pausch addressing the CMU 2008 graduating class
• Randy Pausch on Good Morning America, May 19, 2008
• An Interview with Steve Seabolt about Randy Pausch - video audio (mp3) with John Ortberg at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church on September 12, 2008
• Randy Pausch's five second Star Trek cameo

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Akim Camara (born 26 September 2000 in Berlin-Mitte) is a violinist who began playing at the age of two.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Akim is a biracial child of mixed African (paternal) and European (maternal) descent.

Music career[link]

At only two years of age Akim took up violin lessons under instructor Birgit Thiele at the Marzahn-Hellersdorf School of Music. Akim was at this point still in diapers and speaking in unintelligible toddler gibberish yet he was remarkably able to remember music heard^[2] and the names of all orchestral instruments. Moved by his remarkable memory and natural "ear for music" Akim's teacher began instructing the toddler twice a week in 45 minute sessions.^[3] Akim participated enthusiastically and, due in part to his remarkable memory, the toddler was learning unbelievably fast. After six months of this fairly light training regimen little Akim had his debut performance in December 2003 at the age of two in a Christmas concert "Schneefloeckchen, Weissroeckchen" put on by the Marzahn-Hellersdorf School of Music.^[4]

Birgit Thiele and the music school principal, Gudrun Mueller, messaged Andre Rieu, the celebrity Dutch violinist, regarding Akim's prodigious talent through his website. Rieu responded swiftly. He sent a camera crew to Berlin to film little Akim on the violin. What he saw astounded him. He hastily took action and invited the parents and grandmother of the boy to his studio in Kerkrade, Netherlands along with Akim. Three year old Akim's performance at the studio was apparently so impressive that it left all of the orchestra members in astonishment and disbelief.

Within two weeks little Akim was performing with Rieu in concert at Kerkrade's Parkstad Limburg Stadion filled to near max capacity with an audience of 18,000 people on a toddler-size violin and wearing a tiny custom-made concert tuxedo and dress shoes. After amusing the crowd with a "water trick" toddler Akim then performed Ferdinand Kuchler's violin concertino in G, opus 11 followed by a brief encore performance. Akim exited stage right after two massive standing ovations and roaring cheers.^[5]

Following the success of Akim's performance the little boy had to be essentially hidden from the public eye as many German television stations began pursuing him for appearances. Rieu took the toddler under his wing, so to speak, paying for his musical lessons on both violin and piano and overseeing his instruction (both musical and otherwise) so that Akim will remain "a nice boy"^[6] and not become "an insufferable child prodigy" as Rieu fears would be a possibility without his influence.

With his uncanny ability to memorize a musical piece after hearing it only once or twice, Akim's talent developed rapidly and his youthful enthusiasm and passion for the violin only grew. After an interview and appearance on a Danish TV show the young prodigy performed once again with Andre Rieu. This time Akim was performing a more complex piece, Felix Mendelssohn's Dance of the Fairies and at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, and with an appropriately bigger violin. He also sang "Pie Jesu" with Carla Maffioletti.^[7]

Akim has since performed on television with the likes of Wolfgang Fischer and Richard Clayderman.^[8]

References[link]