Ukrainian-American violinist and music teacher of Ukrainian origin. In Soviet times, a professor at the Kyiv and Moscow Conservatories, a professor at the Institute named after Gnesinykh, after emigrating he became a professor at the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, USA) and the Manhattan School of Music (New York, USA). Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. Lives and works in the USA since 1989.
Biography
He was born in the village of Uchanie (Polish: Uchanie), now the commune of Uchanie, Lublin Voivodeship (Poland) in a family of Ukrainians. During the infamous "Visula" operation in 1945, the family ended up in Lviv, where Oleg Krysa spent his childhood and school years.
Teaching
From the age of six, Oleg learned to play the violin under the guidance of Kostiantyn Mykhaylov, a teacher at the 10-year specialized music school in Lviv named after Solomiya Krushelnytska. Oleg Krysa met his future teacher at one of the republican contests in Kyiv, where David Oistrakh was touring at the time. On his advice, after finishing school in 1960, the young man entered the Moscow Conservatory (David Oistrakh invited him to his class). From 1960 to 1967, he studied at the conservatory and completed postgraduate studies under the supervision of David Oistrakh.
Concert activity
Since 1967, Oleg Krysa has been working as a soloist of the Kyiv Philharmonic, combining musical activity with teaching at the Kyiv Conservatory. Since then, Oleg Krysa has not stopped his concert activities, performing as a soloist of many symphony and chamber orchestras (Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar, Warsaw, Krakow, Katowice, Prague, Budapest, Belgrade, Milan, Rome, Vienna, New -York, Chicago, Washington, London, Montreal, Toronto, etc.).
In addition to a brilliant solo career, Oleg Krysa has successfully performed in quartets. From 1970 to 1973, he was the leader of the Kyiv Conservatory Quartet. From 1977, he was the first violinist of the Beethoven Quartet, in which he performed until 1987, when the quartet ceased to exist. In 1999-2003, he performed as part of the Leontovych String Quartet in Europe, North America, and the Middle East.
Oleg Krysa worked closely with the following composers: Alfred Schnittke, Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Krzysztof Penderecki, Valentin Sylvestrov, Myroslav Skoryk, Yevhen Stankovich, Virko Baley, Sidney Godkinson, Larry Sitsky. He was the first performer of their works, many of which were written especially for him.
He performed in the largest music centers of the world with leading orchestras, conductors and groups. He participated in the biggest festivals in Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. During the Russian-Ukrainian war, he performed in Kyiv and Lviv on June 11 and 16, respectively, together with his son Taras Krysa (conductor of symphony orchestras), and also gave two concerts in support of the Ukrainian people in Saitama (Japan), in which she participated as a performer and leading Japanese violinist Chie Sawada.
US citizen. Foreign member of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine (2016).
Honors, laureates and honorary titles
1970 — Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR
Laureate of the Republican competition of performing musicians in Kyiv (1959)
Participation in international competitions:
1962 — II prize of the Henrik Wieniawski International Violin Competition (Poznan, Poland)
1963 — 1st prize of the Paganini Violin Competition (Genoa, Italy)
1966 — III prize of the Pyotr Tchaikovsky International Competition (Moscow)
1969 — 2nd prize of the International Violin Competition in Montreal (Canada)
Pedagogical activity
1969-1973 — the first head of the violin department in the history of the Kyiv Conservatory
Since 1971, he has been a professor at the Kyiv Conservatory
since 1973 - a professor at the Institute named after Gnesinykh (Moscow)
1974 — professor at the Moscow Conservatory
from 1989 until now — teacher, professor at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester (USA)
He regularly holds master classes in different countries of the world:
Germany: Hanover, Freiburg, Hitzacker, Weimar
USA: New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles
Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Hamamatsu
China: Beijing, Shanghai
France: Paris
Oleg Krysa is a member of the jury of many prestigious international violin competitions. He is an honorary professor of violin at the Lviv National Academy of Music named after M. Lysenko, the Pyotr Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine and an honorary member of the Japanese String Teachers' Association. Among the famous students of the maestro are Anatoliy Bazhenov, Lidia Shutko, Frederik Bednarz, Markiyan Melnychenko and others.
Oleg Krysa Violin Competition
He started the Oleg Krysa International Violin Competition in Lviv (held once every three years). In 2013, the first Oleg Krysa International Violin Competition took place, in which musicians from Ukraine, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the USA, China, Canada, Taiwan, and Russia took part. In October 2016, the second competition was held, in which young violinists from 10 countries of the world (Ukraine, Poland, Kazakhstan, Spain, USA, Ireland, China, South Korea, France, Japan) took part. In the fall of 2019, the third Oleg Krysa Violin Competition was held.
Charitable Foundation "Oleg Krysa" and public organization "WeStetsk association "World of Classical Music" - the founders of the Music Academy "World of Classical Music" ("SCM"), the first season of which took place in the fall of 2014, the second in October 2015.
Family
Father is Vasyl Teofilovich Krysa. Mother - Maria Ivanivna Krysa.
His wife, Tetyana Chekina, a pianist, died in a car accident in 2013 at the age of 69.
Sons:
Andriy is a violinist
Peter is a violinist
Taras is a violinist and conductor. In 2016-2020, Taras Krysa was the chief conductor and artistic director of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Lviv Philharmonic.
Brothers:
Roman Vasyliovych Krysa is an electronic engineer, a graduate of the Lviv Polytechnic.
Bohdan Vasyliovych Krysa is a violinist, teacher of the National Music Academy of Ukraine.
Discography
I. S. Bach. Sonatas and partitas for solo violin (set of four discs). Melody 1983
In total, more than 60 discs of works for violin with piano, orchestra and chamber music have been published.
