“Brilliant piano playing, musical temperament, and rich expression…pianist Olga Chelova was cheered by the Parisian audience.”
D. R. IGNATOV | AFFICHE MUSICALE
| ABOUT
Olga Chelova is an award-winning classical pianist and composer.
| ABOUT HER HOMELAND
She was born into a family of non-musicians - a sea captain and history professor. Her musical talent was discovered by chance. In kindergarten she saw a piano for the first time and heard children’s melodies and Ukranian folk songs played on it. At the age of 2, she was able to play these beautiful melodies by ear. By the age of 5, she knew that she would dedicate her life to music.
The path to a career in music led her to the wonderful school named after Prof. P.S. Stolyarsky: The School of Stolyarsky in Odessa. For Olga, every day at the school for musically gifted children was “heaven on earth”, as she says. Her teacher was Prof. Sukhomlinov I.I., a graduate of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and student of Heinrich Neuhaus.
In the musical and culturally rich coastal city of Odessa, Olga's talent grew and developed in the friendly, warm, and joyful atmosphere of the esteemed School of Stolyarsky. Odessa is a city where people of different nationalities and religions coexist. Odessa’s musical traditions go can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century, when the School of Stolyarsky was founded in 1933. It was the world's first special music school for highly gifted children. Olga graduated with the highest marks, performing Brahms's 2nd Piano Concerto a storm of applause from both the audience and the examination board. Odessa and the School of Stolyarsky are home to some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, including Gilels, Oistrakh, Richter, Milstein, Furer, Fichtenhgolts, and many others.
Despite the greatness of Odessa’s musical tradition, the School of Stolyarsky always maintained a friendly atmosphere and collegial competition always remained healthy. The entire faculty always helped and supported the students.
As Olga recalls in her book " My Life in Music":
Olga after her first performance on stage
"I remember the sunny streets of the center, the smell of the sea and acacia trees and I run to school. I never walked, but always ran. I had to run from the happiness that overwhelmed me, from the music that sounded inside me, and from the joy of meeting my musician friends at school, where everybody waited for me and loved me...".After Abitour in Odessa, Olga continued her education in Hannover at the University of Music, Drama and Media (ME DIPLOM, KA DIPLOM, M.MUS), followed by a Postgraduate study at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, where everything was different.
| ABOUT HER ROLE AS AN ARTIST
Olga is an artist who has dedicated her life to serving people and whose compositions and performances are rooted in humanism. She has dedicated entire concerts to works by composers killed in concentration camps. Olga performed Chopin’s 24 Études (Op. 10 and Op. 25) at several benefit concerts this season. The proceeds from one of the benefit concerts were sent to the Stolpersteine Foundation and the Max Windmueller Foundation, named in memory of the German-Jewish member of the Dutch resistance member.
The German critic, I. Wagner, compared Olga to Sviatoslav Richter afterwards. The full review is available here.
| ABOUT HER COMPOSITION
As a composer, Olga Chelova has written "Variations for Piano 2020 in C minor”, “12 preludes for piano", a string quartet and a cantata,"Gottes Mühlen mahlen langsam..."(The mills of God grind slowly) for piano and three voices. Inspired by her own experiences, Olga's cantata was written for and dedicated to anyone and everyone who has experienced bullying. In a grotesque form created through musical and literary means, Olga's cantata describes large-scale bullying. Olga strongly believes that bullying does not have a place in society and is an advocate for bullying victims. Olga's cantata is a survival guide and a means of faith and happiness for victims of bullying.
| ABOUT HER MOST IMPORTANT MUSICAL INFLUENCES
Her only and main piano teacher is Professor Grigory Gruzman, with whom she takes regular classes. Olga’s work as a performer and composer has been heavily influenced by several of the great composers, particularly by Johann Sebastian Bach. She is currently working on an audio project called, “The Influence of Johann Sebastian Bach on the Music of Frederic Chopin: WTK & Chopin’s Études as Examples of Macrocosm”.Olga’s vast repertoire spans from Baroque through present day and includes works from Scarlatti and Handel to 21st century composers such as L. Auerbach, P. Dusapin, and Ph. Schœller. Her master’s thesis in Hannover was centered on Schnittke’s 1963 Prelude and Fugue.
| ABOUT HER SPECIAL CONNECTION WITH CHOPIN
Olga has a strong connection with the works of Frédéric Chopin. Throughout her career, she has always included at least one work by Chopin in her performances. Her special bond with the composer started at the beginning of her career, when she was the youngest participant of the International Chopin Competition in Ukraine, where she received a special diploma for the best performance of a Chopin Nocturne. Years later at the 2018 "Musika be sienu" International Piano Competition in Lithuania, Olga won a special prize “In Memory of T. Shebanova” for the best performance of a Chopin concerto in the finals with orchestra. This prize was awarded by a Polish member of the jury and was given to Olga for her interpretation of Chopin’s Concerto No.1 under the baton of T. Sileika.
| ABOUT HER DEBUT CD
Olga has been praised for her skillful lyricism and warmth in her interpretation of the great Romantic composers. In 2021, Olga released her first international recording “Schumann/Lizt/Brahms” under the German label, NEOS. The album features Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Liszt’s 6 études by Paganini, and Brahms Walzer Op. 39 for 4 hands. Olga recorded the Brahms with the legendary pianist and conductor, Philippe Entremont.
For her Debut- CD, Olga has been nominated for the 2022 Opus Classic Award in three categories.
| AWARDS
Olga has won awards from more than 20 international competitions. She is a laureate and a scholarship holder of the prestigious ELES Foundation, as well as a laureate of the Bernbeck Stiftung Berlin, Ottilie Selbach-Redslob Stiftung, and the Deutschland Stipendium YAMAHA.
Olga has been a Steinway Artist since 2022.
| CONTACT
Are you interested in booking Olga for a concert or festival? For business inquiries or for a short version of her biography, please contact Olga directly here.