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The Russian harpsichordist, fortepianist, organist and pianist, Olga Pashchenko (Russian: Ольга Пащенко), began her musical studies at the age of 6 at the Gnessin School of Music with Tatiana Zelikman, giving her first piano recital in New York at the age of 9. She continued her studies at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory studying forte and modern piano with Alexei Lubimov, harpsichord with Olga Martynova and organ with Alexei Schmitov and completed them at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Richard Egarr in 2014. Her awards include: Her awards include: 2nd Prize of the International Competition Musica Antiqua Brugges on the fortepiano (2010); Winner of the First International Fortepiano Competition Schloss Kremsegg (2011); 1st Prize and Special Prize of the Chopin Society at the International Hans von Bülow Piano Competition in Meiningen, Germany (2012); 2nd Prize and Audience Prize of the International Competition Musica Antiqua Brugges on the harpsichord (2012); 1st Prize and Critic’s Jury Prize of the International Fortepiano Competition Premio Ferrari in Rovereto, Italy (2012); 1st Prize of the Circulo Bach Competition in Madrid (2013); 2nd Prize and Audience Prize of the International Bach Competition in Leipzig (2014).
Now Netherlands based, Olga Pashchenko is one of today’s most versatile keyboard performers on the international stage and equally at home on fortepiano, harpsichord, organ, and contemporary piano. From J.S. Bach and L.v. Beethoven on historical instruments to Ligeti on contemporary piano, she enjoys a busy and eclectic concert career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She is a regular guest at early and contemporary music festivals alike, including the Jordi Savall Festival, where she just performed with the Capella Nacional de Catalunya under the direction of Maestro Jordi Savall and a program together with the Spanish violinist Lina Tur Bonet. Furthermore, she appears at the Utrecht Early Music Festival every year since 2014 and held an artist residency there; the Radio France Festival in Montpellier; the Festival Musiq’3 in Brussels, the Maggio Musicale Florence; the fortepiano series of Milan and Padua; AMUZ Antwerpen; Concertgebouw Bruges, and the Cité de la Musique in Paris. Together with Jed Wentz, she has an ongoing partnership for a special cinematic project, performing an array of new arrangements of romantic music to accompany a selection of silent films from the 1920s such as Tartuffe, Faust and now Nosferatu by F.W. Murnau.
As a concerto soloist Olga Pashchenko has performed with the Orchestra of the 18th Century; Meininger Hofkapelle; Jenaer Philharmoniker, at the Musikfestspiele Potsdam with the Cappella Augustana, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, with the Collegium 1704 Václav Luks at the Chopin Festival Warsaw; with Teodor Currentzis and with the Finnish Baroque Orchestra at the RSO Festival Helsinki with Alexei Lubimov. Her chamber music partners include Alexander Melnikov, Giovanni Antonini, Evgeny Sviridov, Dmitry Sinkovsky, Avi Avital and Erik Bosgraaf. Recently, Olga made her debut at the Salzburg & Berlin Festival in recital with Georg Nigl. She has been Hausmusikerin at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn since 2012, where she gives regular recitals in the series Bongasse 20: music from L.v. Beethoven's time.
An exclusive recording artist for Alpha Classics, Olga Pashchenko has released several critically acclaimed recordings including Transitions (Dussek, L.v. Beethoven, and Felix Mendelssohn). Most recently, "Echo" with baritone Georg Nigl featuring songs by Schubert, Carl Loewe, Robert Schumann and Wolf, following the great success of their CD Vanitas. and a recording of W.A. Mozart's Piano Concerti Nos. 9 & 17 with the Ensemble Il Gardellino.
Highlights of the 2022-2023 season included solo recitals at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Beethoven-Haus Bonn and the Fundacion Juan March. She also performed with Georg Nigl at Musikfest Bremen, Elbphilharmonie, and Cite de la Musique and continued her decade-long project to record and tour all the W.A. Mozart Concerti with Il Gardellino. Most recently she opened the 2023-2024 season with W.A. Mozart’s piano concerto Nr 20 in d-minor and the Beethoven Orchester Bonn and was celebrated for her virtuosity which is seen as: ”the key to the musical soul, which she lets shine not only in the melodic sections, but also in every run, every figure and ornamentation‘‘ (General-Anzeiger Bonn, 14.08.2023).
The variety of her repertoire and performance styles can be seen throughout her next season - from recitals with Alexander Melnikov at Musikfest Berlin or Georg Nigl in Vienna, to tours with Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto with the Orchestra of the 18th Century or W.A. Mozart's Piano concerto No. 24 in March 2024. She also has a strong connection with the AMUZ in Antwerp where she will be artist in residence from 2025 to 2028. She is part of the Artistic collective of Noorderkerkconcerten in Amsterdam since 2022.
In September 2017, Olga Pashchenko was appointed as a Professor at the Sweelinck Conservatorium van Amsterdam and in September 2018 as a teacher of fortepiano, harpsichord and piano at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent. |
