Olha-Alexandra Porfirivna Bazhanska, née Ozarkiewicz (30 December 1866, Lviv - 15 July 1906, Zakopane, now Poland) was a Ukrainian pianist, folklorist, writer, public figure, and early feminist. Her literary pseudonyms are Oksana, Olesia B. According to the Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies, Olha Oleksandra Bazhanska was the first Ukrainian professional pianist in Galicia. She took an active part in the women's movement.
Biography
Olha Olexandra Bazhanska was born on 30 December 1866 in Lviv in the family of a UGCC priest, composer, musicologist, writer, and folklorist Porfirii Bazhanskyi.
She studied music with her father and I. Hunevych (Lviv). In 1885, she graduated from the Lviv Teachers' Seminary. After that, she taught in the village of Soroky (now Soroky-Lvivski, Pustomyty district, Lviv region) and in the town of Horodok (now Lviv region). She taught piano.
In 1891, she became one of the organisers of the Boyan Music and Choral Society in Lviv.
She died on 15 July 1906 in Zakopane (now Poland). She was buried in Lviv on the 59th field of the Lychakiv Cemetery.
Concert activity
In 1892-1900, Bazhanska-Ozarkevych performed as a pianist in the concerts of the Boyan Society dedicated to Taras Shevchenko and Markian Shashkevych.
At concerts in Lviv, she accompanied such singers as Solomiya Krushelnytska (1892, 1894, "Oh Luli, Luli" and "Oh Moon, Moon" by Mykola Lysenko, "In the Grove, in the Grove" by Denys Sichynskyi), Maria Pavlykiv, Ivan Skalysh, and others.
Bazhanska-Ozarkevych's repertoire included piano works by Ukrainian and foreign composers, including Mykola Lysenko, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Robert Schumann.
Composer Ostap Nyzhankivskyi dedicated his work "Over the Lake" (1894) to Bazhanska-Ozarkevych.
Literary work
In 1887, in the first feminist almanac of Ukraine "First Wreath" she published the short story "Kindrat" (Novels from Folk Life, pp. 120-139) and the poem "Once Upon a Time" ("Once upon a time I was merry...", p. 159).
In 1891, she published the story "5.V 1891" in the magazine "Narod", dedicated to the fate of a female intellectual in the society of that time.
She translated the works of Polish writer Władysław Orkan (the stories "Pidwieczyrok", "Nedovorok", "Yasna Poliana", "Nad Berd").
In Soroky, she recorded proverbs that Ivan Franko published in his publication Galician-Rus' Proverbs (1901-1910).
The folk songs recorded by Bazhanska-Ozarkevych were included in the collection Rusko-folk Galician melodies (Lviv, 1905-1912, parts 1-10), compiled by Porfirij Bazhansky.
