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Biography

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Born in 1982 in Kharkiv (Ukraine), Olga Monakh won the National Piano Competition in Kharkiv and gave her first public recital at the age of ten. In 2000, she finished the Special Music School for Gifted Children in her native city, gaining a diploma with distinction and the Golden Medal. In 2001, Olga Monakh was accepted into the distinguished piano class of Prof. Klaus Hellwig at the University of Arts in Berlin, where she obtained an artistic diploma with distinction in 2006 and Piano-Soloist Master in 2011. She also improves her mastery with Dominique Merlet, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Elisso Virsaladze and Kristina Steinegger.

Olga Monakh received international recognition by winning several prizes in International Piano Competitions, such as the third prize and the bronze medal in the Vianna da Motta Competition in 2004. Her more recent success is the third prize at the “Concours Européen du Piano Vlado Perlemuter” in France in 2009, where additionally the audience unanimously bestowed on her the prize of the public.

Olga Monakh has been invited to distinguished halls worldwide: she has played in the Konzerthaus Berlin, in the Feierabendhaus Ludwigshaven and in the Teatro Sao Luiz in Lissabon. She performed on well-known festivals in Germany, such as the European Piano Festival Ruhr and the Weseler Piano Summer (Europäisches Klavier Festival Ruhr, Weseler Klaviersommer) and on other festivals in France, Switzerland, Italy and Japan.

Being a great lover of chamber music, Olga Monakh founded a piano duo together with the French pianist Nicolas Bringuier. They have extensively toured in France and Germany and were invited to a series of concerts and master-classes in French Polynesia. In March 2012 they make their debut in the Berlin Philharmonie and in Vienna Musikverein with the Wiener Concert-Verein conducted by Yoel Gamzou.

Together with the baritone Peter Schöne, she won the first prize in the prestigious Competition for Vocal Chamber Music of the 20th. And 21st century, carried out and sponsored by the Culture Circle of the Federal Society for German Business. As a result, the Duo performed the world premiere of „Eins und doppelt“ by Wolfgang Rihm, who had composed this cycle of songs especially for this Duo.
The Duo is currently recording complete Schubert Songs.

Olga Monakh has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Wernigerode Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Kharkov Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Peter Csaba, Oleg Soldatov, Urs Schneider, Burkhard Rempe and Lutz Köhler.

Olga is laureate of well-known foundations: the Villecroze Academy in France, the Paul-Hindemith-Society and the Ottilie-Selbach-Redslob-Foundation in Berlin, the Oscar-and-Vera-Ritter-Foundation in Hamburg. Since 2008 Olga has played for the Yehudi Menuhin Society “Live Music Now”.

Reviews

• „I have come to know Olga Monakh well through her various activities in concert and in competition. She is a remarkably professional pianist with a wide-ranging repertoire. She can deliver convincing performances of the most contrasting styles on a consistently high pianistic level. I have no doubt that Olga will have a successful career and for that, I wish her the very best!”
Anna Malikova
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• „Olga Monakh is not a pianist like the other ones! She is a true interpreter who can capture all historical, stylistic and emotional parametres of a score. That is why to hear her concert brings something new and authentic to the listener, something that makes the life beautiful.”
Dominique Merlet
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• „Olga Monakh creates atmosphere in the hall. She seems to be someone with great promise for the future.“
„Chopin“, Tokyo

• „A strong artistic personality with great imagination.“
„Mitteldeutsche Zeitung“
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• „Olga Monakh is a true master of the soft tones. Every chord seemed to be thought through. Seldom one finds such an intensive, thus differentiated touch culture. She made the "Kreisleriana" to a nerve-unearthing journey by the abysses of the romanticism.“
„Neue Rundschau“
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Prizes

2009
• 3d Prize and Public Prize (unanimously) at the Concours Européen de Piano Vlado Perlemuter in France.

2008
• 3d Prize at the Renate Schorle International Competition in Berlin.
• Semifinalist of the A. Casagrande Competition in Terni.
• Semifinalist at the Rhodes International Piano Competition.

2007
• 3d Prize at the International Piano Duo Competition in Valberg, France.

2006
• 2nd Prize and the Special Prize for the best performance of the compulsory swiss modern piece at the „36e Concours International Féminin de musique“ in Bern.

2005
• „Diploma de Selectionado-Secunda Fase“ at the Paloma O'Shea International Competition in Santander.

2004
• 3d Prize and the Bronze Medal at the Vianna da Motta Competition in Lisbon.
• 1st Prize and the Special Prize for the best pianist-accompanist at the International Liedduo - Competition of the Cultural Commitee of German Business, with baritone Peter Schöne.

2003
• 4th Prize at the International Competition in Porto.

2002
• 2nd Prize (1st prize was not attributed) at the Artur-Schnabel Piano Competition in Berlin.

Repertoire

Concerto Repertoire

L.v. Beethoven
• Concerto C major, op.15
• Concerto B flat major, op.19
• Concerto c minor, op.38
• Concerto E flat major, „Empereur”

W.A. Mozart
• Concerto in E flat major, KV 271 „Jeunehomme“
• Concerto in A major, KV 414
• Concerto in E flat major, KV 449
• Concerto in F major, KV 459
• Concerto in C major, KV 503
• Concerto in E flat major for 2 Pianos

F. Chopin
• Concerto in F minor

R. Schumann
• Concerto in a minor, op.54

F. Liszt
• Concerto in E flat major, nr.1

S. Rachmaninov
• Concerto in c minor, nr.2

P.I. Chaikovsky
• Concerto in B minor, nr. 1

D.D. Schostakovitch
• Concerto nr. 1 in C minor, op.35

M. Ravel
• Concerto in G
• Concerto for the left hand

F. Poulenc
Concerto for 2 Pianos

Solo Repertoire

J.S. Bach
• Preludes and Fugues from WTK (selection)
• Fantasia and Fuga in a minor, BWV 904
• Italian Concerto BWV 971
• Partita Nr.2, BWV 826
• Partita Nr.6, BWV 830

Bach - Busoni
• Chaconne d-minor
• Choral transkriptions (selection)

D. Scarlatti
• Sonatas (selection)

L. van Beethoven
• Sonata f minor, op.2, Nr.2
• Sonata C Major, op.2, Nr.3
• Sonata D Major, op.10, Nr.3
• Sonata c minor, "Grande Sonate pathétique", op.13
• Sonata quasi una Fantasia c sharp minor, op.27, Nr. 2, "Mondschein"
• Sonata d minor, op.31,2, «Sturmsonata»
• Sonata E flat Major, op.31, 3, «Jagd - Sonata»
• Sonate f minor, op.57, "Appassionata"
• Sonate e minor, op.90
• Sonate E Major, op.109
• Sonate A flat Major, op.110

W.A. Mozart
• Rondo D Major KV 485
• Rondo a minor KV 511
• Fantasia d minor K 397
• Variations in F Major “Salve, tu Domine”
• Sonata F Major, KV 280
• Sonata D Major, KV 284
• Sonata a minor, KV 310

J. Haydn
• Sonata C Major, Hob.XVI:50
• Sonata F Major, Hob.XVI:23
• Sonata D Major, Hob.XVI:37
• Variations f minor Hob.XVII:6

F. Schubert
• Sonata a minor, op.164
• Sonata A Major, op.posth.120
• Sonata B flat Major, D 960
• 4 Impromtus op.90
• 6 Moments musicaux op.94
• 4 Impromtus op.142

R. Schumann
• Variationen über ein Thema von Clara Wieck, f minor, op.14
• Kreisleriana, op.16
• Fantasie op.17
• Novellette op.21, Nr.8
• Faschingsschwank aus Wien, op.26
• Kinderszenen op.15

F. Mendelssohn
• Lieder ohne Worte (Auswahl)
• Scherzo from a Midsummer Night’s Dream
(S. Rachmaninovs transcription)
• Fantasie f sharp minor

J. Brahms
• Fantasien op. 116
• Intermezzi op.117
• Klavierstücke op.118
• 4 Balladen op.10

F. Liszt
• Ballade b minor, Nr.2
• Rhapsodie Nr.13
• Sonata-Fantasia "Après la lecture de Dante"
• Sonata b minor
• 6 Paganini-Etudes
• Etudes transcendantes (selection)
• Etudes de concert

F. Chopin
• Nocturnes (selection)
• Scherzo b flat minor, Nr.2, op.31
• Scherzo sharpminorl, Nr.3
• 4 Ballades:
- g minor, op.23
- F Major/a minor, op.38
- A flat Major, op.47
- f minor, op.52
• Polonaise-Fantaisie, op.61
• Etudes (selection)
• Valses (selection)
• 24 Préludes op.28

J. Vianna da Motta
• Ballade op.16

C. Franck
• Prélude, Choral et Fugue

M. Ravel
• Jeux d'eau
• «Gaspard de la nuit»
• Sonatine

C. Debussy
• Préludes (complete)
• "Children - Corner"
• L’islejoyeuse

O. Messiaen
• 8 Préludes
• “La 1ère communion de la Vierge” from “20 Regards..”

G. Fauré
• 2 Nocturnes

T. Murail
• “Cloches d’adieu et un sourire...” in memoriam O. Messiaen

M. Mussorgsky
• Pictures at an exhibition
• Hopak

A. Scriabin
• Sonata Nr.5, op.53
• 2 pieces op.9 for the left hand

S. Rachmaninov
• Préludes (selection)
• Etudes - tableaux (selection)
• Elegy op.3, nr 1

S. Prokofiev
• Sonata Nr.2, op.14
• Visions fugitives (selection)
• Suggestion diabolique, op.4, Nr.4
• 4 Etudes op.3

D. Schostakowitsch
• Präludium and Fuga Des - Dur
• Präludien (selection)

I. Albéniz
• El Albaicín
• Triana

H. Holliger
• Elis

Z. Moultaka
• Sept Variations sur un Mouvachah

W. Godziatzkij
• Surface scratches («Risse der Flächen»), 1963

W. Rihm
• „Eins und doppelt“
(Olga made a world premiere with baritone Peter Schöne)

P. Boulez
• Douze Notations

Programmes

Programme I: „Correspondances”
• C. Debussy - Préludes
• M. Moussorgsky - Pictures at an exhibition

Programme II: „Tales and legends”
• R. Schumann - Kreisleriana, op.16
• H. Holliger - Elis
• N. Medtner - 2 Fairy tales
• J. Brahms - Balladen op.10

Programme III: F. Chopin
• 4 Ballades
• 24 Préludes

Programme IV
• F. Schubert - Sonata in B flat Major D960
• F. Liszt - Ballade B minor
• F. Schubert - F. Liszt - Songs transcriptions
• F. Liszt - Sonata Fatnasia „Après une lecture de Dante“