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Olga Pashchenko

Guess who?

Two guesses who gets to kick off our brand-new season… The queen of the keyboard, Olga Pashchenko, who is coming to celebrate her debut as our artist-in-residence with the most beautiful wordless songs by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. The brother and sister were inspired by poems and stories to create these gorgeous miniatures that only need keys and “Pashchenko’s virtuoso fingers” to reveal their poetic storytelling power, atmospheric scenes and acutely captured emotions. The icing on this generous cake is an exquisite fortepiano by Conrad Graf, the Mendelssohns’ favourite instrument maker. On the historic instrument from the Geelvinck collection, the Lieder ohne Worte come to life in a colourful microcosm, with an elegant ballad one moment and an intense declaration of love or a playful dance the next. An exciting start to the season in which every key on the piano conceals a discovery!

Program

Fanny Mendelssohn: Selection from Lieder für das Fortepiano | Felix Mendelssohn: Selection from Lieder ohne Worte 

Performers

Olga Pashchenko, piano (Conrad Graf, 1836)

Thu 2 October 2025

20:00 - AMUZ

Prices:

Category 1: € 28 / € 24 | Category 2: € 24 / € 20 | Youth -19: € 5

Reviews

Pashchenko’s absolute mastery of this 1836 Graf, built during the maker’s peak period between 1822 and 1842, plays a significant role in these performances brilliance. The strikingly different sounds of the registers, a quality that has been lost in modern instruments, open fresh realms of colours and moods.

Gramophone

Whether it’s in the tumultuous restless numbers, the flowing gondolier songs, the tragic pomp of the funeral march or the spritely step of a spring song, Pashchenko gives us eloquence and emotion, passion and poetry. The title might hook you in, but it’s the sheer life force of her playing that will make you stay.

BBC Music Magazine

Pashchenko certainly makes no distinction between the two, treating what might appear to be salon music with the dignity and subtlety that these polished and thoughtful miniatures deserve. All very refreshing.

The Times

Instrument

Pianoforte Conrad Graf, Vienna, c. 1836, on loan from the Kolthoorn Collection, Museum Geelvinck (Amsterdam–Heerde), restoration by Gijs Wilderom, tuning by Hans Kramer