A violinist has broken the record for the fastest performance of Flight of the Bumblebee. 
Oliver Lewis, from east London, completed the nimble-fingered feat live on the BBC’s Blue Peter programme.
His time of one minute 3.356 seconds, witnessed in the studio by a Guinness World Records representative, shaved nearly a second off the previous record.
Learning of his success after the attempt was verified for accuracy, Mr Lewis said: “I feel so much relief, thank you very much.”
According to the Press Association, Lewis first picked up the violin at the age of eight and has since performed in hit shows including: Oliver!, War of the Worlds and Spirit of the Dance.
Flight of the Bumblebee is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900 and the piece normally takes approximately one minute 20 seconds to perform at tempo.
The piece of music can be characterised by its frantic pace when played at tempo. It is not so much the pitch or range of the notes that are played that challenges the musician, but simply the musician’s ability to move to them quickly enough, Allmusic says.
Meanwhile, the previous record was held by David Garrett, who also completed the feat live on Blue Peter.
Oliver Lewis, from east London, completed the nimble-fingered feat live on the BBC’s Blue Peter programme.
His time of one minute 3.356 seconds, witnessed in the studio by a Guinness World Records representative, shaved nearly a second off the previous record.
Learning of his success after the attempt was verified for accuracy, Mr Lewis said: “I feel so much relief, thank you very much.”
According to the Press Association, Lewis first picked up the violin at the age of eight and has since performed in hit shows including: Oliver!, War of the Worlds and Spirit of the Dance.
Flight of the Bumblebee is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900 and the piece normally takes approximately one minute 20 seconds to perform at tempo.
The piece of music can be characterised by its frantic pace when played at tempo. It is not so much the pitch or range of the notes that are played that challenges the musician, but simply the musician’s ability to move to them quickly enough, Allmusic says.
Meanwhile, the previous record was held by David Garrett, who also completed the feat live on Blue Peter.