Biography

The Latvian pianist Olga Jegunova makes every performance fresh and compelling. She possesses a remarkable musical imagination combined with a seriousness of purpose and discipline. Her repertoire ranges from Bach to Schnittke, Scarlatti to Bartok and includes much contemporary repertoire, not least some new works composed especially for her.

Olga has gained an enviable reputation as soloist and recitalist, not least winning many major international piano competitions. These include the Ginette Gaubert competition in Paris and the Steinway-Folderpreis in Hamburg. She has been a prize-winner at the Maryse Cheilan competition in France, the Stasys Vainiunas competition in Vilnius, the Animato competition in Zurich, and was recently a semi-finalist at the prestigious Geza Anda Concours in Zurich.

Beginning her musical studies in her native Latvia (B.Mus at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Music Academy), Olga moved to Germany  (M.Mus at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg) and Great Britain (Royal College of Music’s Artist Diploma course as an RCM scholar under Dmitri Alexeev, and Royal Northern College of Music where her piano teacher was Norma Fisher). Her studies have been supported by innumerable scholarships and awards including Socrates Erasmus, Acroyd Trust, LMN, Izglītības fonds, Kultūrkapitāla fonds, RCM scholarship and DOM Stiftung

Olga regularly performs at festivals across Europe. These include the Liepaja Star Festival in Latvia, the Riga J.S. Bach Festival in Latvia, the Young Artists Festival organised by the Vladimir Spivakov foundation in Riga and Moscow, the Ludwig van Beethoven Festival “Kasseler Musiktage” in Germany, the Deal Festival, the Chilingirian Schumann Fest in London, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove and Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival.

Olga has participated in numerous master classes with such luminaries as Andras Schiff, Ferenz Rados, Elisso Virsaladze, Mikhail Voskresensky and Lazar Berman.  As a soloist she has collaborated with conductors such as Saulius Sondeckis, Alexander Soddy, Andres Mustonen and Muhai Tang and appeared with ensembles and orchestras such as the Sinfonia Concertante, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Zürcher Kammerorchester and Manchester Camerata.  Her activities as a chamber musician include performing as a pianist, harpsichordist and fortepiano player.

Since 2009, she has worked as a performer for LIVE MUSIC NOW, a charity providing live music in the concert hall as well as in the welfare, educational, justice and health sectors. In 2011 she was appointed Artistic advisor of Chamber Music in Little Venice (London).

Olga plays a Yamaha G2 grand piano kindly provided by Peter Smith and sons.