Olga Shishkina
Helsinki, Central Finland, Finland
Music
Press
"Olga's brisk playing made the skilled guitarists turn pale" - Haapavesi Lehti
"...Innovatory, absolutely non-traditional approach"
Igor Golubev - THE LIGHTS OF VOLCHOFF
"...One of the finest Gusli's exponents - teenage sensation Olga Shishkina" - THE NORTHERN SCOT
"...Absolute virtuoso, fantastic playing..." - GOTLANDS TIDNINGAR
“Shishkina is not only a virtuoso instrumentalist, but also an innovative researcher. She has developed many new playing techniques for the instrument by which we were amazed at the concert”.
Marko Niemelä - Lapin Kansa
Discography
Con Brillo (Estonian Record Productions, 2010)
Sound of Koli (Koistinen Kantele Ltd, 2011)
As a guest musician:
Brazilian Aeroplane - Simetria: Bo Kasper in Brazil (Generare, 2010)
Saara Aalto - Angels (Yume, 2011)
Pepe Deluxe - Queen of the Wave (Catskills, 2012).
Photos
Bio
Olga started to play Russian kantele (gusli) at the age of 8 and already after 2 years of playing it she was taking part in a number of competitions. During her studies at Andreev music school in St.Petersburg in addition to gusli she also mastered piano and balalaika and had classical guitar lessons. At the age of 16 Olga got 2nd prize at the prestigious 6th All-Russian Competition thus becoming the youngest laureate in the competition’s history. Since then her musical journey around the world began - it led her to play in England, Scotland, Finland, Sweden, Belgium and other European countries.
In 2003 she was admitted to St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory where her main instrument was gusli and in the meantime she did secondary studies in piano, organ and orchestral conducting. In 2008 she graduated with the highest honors diploma getting an honor to be one the four selected performers at the graduation ceremony concert.
In the same year Olga moved to Helsinki and started Master’s degree studies in Finnish concert kantele at Sibelius Academy. Being always interested in exploring new musical styles and finding other ways of expressivity she started to study jazz piano with one of the leading young Finnish jazz pianists Jussi Fredriksson. It inspired her to try out different ideas and approaches on kantele.
During last years Olga has been actively involved as an electric kantele player in rhythm and jazz/improvisational music and played quite a few gigs. In 2010 she started a unique duo project “Off limits” with one of the most respected Finnish guitarists Timo Kämäräinen who was at the same time her main teacher of electric kantele. The project had a concert in spring 2011 and aimed to bring the potential of kantele to a new level in the context of fusion/jazz music.
In 2011 she got the 3rd prize plus the special prize from the Society of Finnish composers for the best performance of modern music at the First International Kantele Competition (Jukka Linkola’s “Terracotta lady”).
Olga has recently performed in the USA and Japan where she also gave masterclasses.
Apart from solo concerts she has also worked with Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Cappella Symphony Orchestra, Lapland Chamber Orchestra and others.
As a studio musician Olga appeared on the Brazilian Aeroplane record “Simetria: Bo Kasper in Brazil” (2010), Saara Aalto’s album “Angels” (2011) and Pepe Deluxe “Queen of the Wave” (30.1.2012).
Her interest to Asia also led her to learn to play Chinese guzheng. As a guzheng player she appeared at “Musiikin aika” modern music festival in 2009 and took part in the documentary production of Kati Juurus’ “Kaksi miestä Kiinasta” (out in March 2012).
Links
