From Bach and Beethoven on historical instruments to Ligeti on contemporary piano, Netherlands based OLGA PASHCHENKO is one of today’s most versatile performers internationally. She enjoys a busy and eclectic concert career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. This variety is expressed in her concert programs– from from recitals with Alexander Melnikov at Musikfest Berlin or Georg Nigl, to tours with Clara Schumann’s piano concerto with the Orchestra of the 18th Century or Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in March 2024. She 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).
Olga’s summer filled with recitals are as varied as they can be – from Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Georg Nigl at Carinthian Summer Festival, to silent movie performances with Jed Wentz or a recital with the flutist Lucie Horsch featuring music from the Netherlands at the Cologne Philharmonie. In October 2024 she will play a recital with her friend and colleague Alexander Melnikov at Wigmore Hall followed by a residence in La Rochelle. After the season starts with a focus on chamber music and recitals, Olga will tour with the Orchestra of the 18th century (piano concerto nr 12 by Dusik) and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with a Mendelssohn program. Her deep connection to the Mendelssohn’s can also be witnessed during her recital debut at Auditorium Lyon in April 2025.
She is a regular guest at early and contemporary music festivals alike, including the Jordi Savall Festival, where she performed with the Capella Nacional de Catalunya under the direction of Maestro 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 has performed with the Orchestra of the 18th Century; Meininger Hofkapelle; Jenaer Philharmoniker, at the Musikfestspiele Potsdam with the Capella Augustina, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, with the Collegium 1704 under Vaclav 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 a recital with Georg Nigl.
Highlights of the last seasons included solo recitals at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, with the Orchestra of the 18th century, at the Musikfestspiele Berlin or L’auditorio Barcelona. She also performed with Georg Nigl at Musikfest Bremen, Elbphilharmonie, and Cité de la Musique and continued her decade-long project to record and tour all the Mozart Concerti with Il Gardellino.
Olga has been Hausmusikerin at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn since 2012, where she gives regular recitals in the series Bongasse 20: music from Beethoven’s time. She also has a strong connection with the AMUZ in Antwerp where she will be artist in residence from 2025 – 2028. She is part of the Artistic collective of Noorderkerkconcerten in Amsterdam since 2022.
An exclusive recording artist for Alpha Classics, Olga has released several critically acclaimed recordings. Her most recent album showcases Mozart’s 20th and 23rd piano concerto which she recorded with Il Gardellino. It was not only awarded, album of the week’ by Classic FM but also described as ,,that’s the beauty of music: there are no words to describe it (…) – the performance of Pashchenko and Il Gardellino stimulates that imagination’’ (Joost Galema, NRC) Earlier released CDs include 'Echo' with baritone Georg Nigl featuring songs by Schubert, Loewe, Schumann and Wolf, following the great success of their CD Vanitas and a recording of Mozart's Piano concerti 9 & 17 with the Ensemble Il Gardellino.
Olga 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. In 2017, she was appointed as a Professor at the Sweelinck Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Royal Conservatory of Ghent.
September 2024
