Olena Matseliukh (born 21 November 1970, Zolochiv) is a Ukrainian organist, soloist of the Lviv National Philharmonic, as well as the Lviv House of Organ and Chamber Music and the Rivne Regional Philharmonic, researcher at the Lviv Museum of the History of Religion, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor (2021).
Biography.
She was born into a family of musicians. She showed an interest in music from the age of 5, which led her to Music School No. 1 in Ivano-Frankivsk. In 1990, after graduating with honours from the Ivano-Frankivsk Denys Sichynskyi Music School, she entered the Mykola Lysenko Lviv State Conservatory. After studying piano with Professor M. Krykh-Uhlyar from 1990 to 1996, she received a master's degree with honours and in August 2000 was accepted to the Lviv Philharmonic, where she continues to work as a solo organist.
As a concert organist, she has prepared a number of solo organ programmes: "Geniuses of the Baroque", "Music of J. S. Bach", "Opera by Richard Wagner", "Liszt the Organist", "Aristide Kavaj-Kohl Symphonic Organ", "Gregorian Chorale: P. Ion, E. Elgar, A. Gilman", "Musica sacrum by S. Moniuszko", "M. Dupré's Symphony of the Passion of Christ", "O. Messiaen: "The Image of Nature and God", "Minimalism in Music: Philip Glass", "P. Vasks' "Dona nobis pacem" from Latvia", "Arvo Pärt's Estonian "Tintinambuli", "Bach's transcriptions of Antonio Vivaldi's concertos", Handel's Concerto No. 12 "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale", Poulenc's Concerto for organ, timpani and strings, J. Reinberger's Concerto for organ g-moll (first performance in Ukraine), etc. O. Matseliukh's solo concerts enjoy constant success and wide popularity among the public. For 10 years, she has been the first performer of the works of Lviv composer Bohdan Kotiuk, who created more than 30 works of various genres for the organ, including three symphonic poems and a concerto.
Since 2006, she has been a member of the Lviv Museum of the History of Religion and a researcher at the Institute of Religious Studies. His public performances and research focus on the world achievements of the Lviv organ school and Ukrainian culture.
Alongside her work at the National Philharmonic and the Museum of the History of Religion, in 2010 she was invited as a solo organist to the Lviv House of Organ and Chamber Music, and in 2017 to the Rivne Regional Philharmonic in a similar position.
In parallel with her concert activity as an organist, O. Matseliukh expanded her creative interests to master the harpsichord and deepened her knowledge of pedagogy at Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University (2013-2016), which she completed with the defence of her master's thesis on "Sacred and Secular as Complementary Factors in the Development of Organ Art in Lviv in the XIX-XX Centuries" (scientific and creative supervisor: Professor N. Svyrydenko). She received a master's degree in music pedagogy and harpsichord performance. During her studies, O. Matseliukh, together with the famous Ukrainian harpsichordist, Professor Svyrydenko, prepared a number of programmes to promote the harpsichord and the music of harpsichordists (e.g. "Fitzwilliam's Virginal Book", "Music of the French Baroque", "Spinet and Clavichord", etc.)
Immediately after completing her studies in Kyiv (2016), on the recommendation of the Czech Consul in Lviv, O. Matseliukh was accepted to the doctoral programme at the F. Palacký University in Olomouc (Czech Republic). Her supervisor was a leading Czech organist with a worldwide reputation, Professor Petr Plany. Under his guidance, she worked on her doctoral dissertation "The Sacred and the Profane in Organ Music by Czech and Ukrainian Composers on Examples from the Works of Petr Eben and Bohdan Kotyuk". This topic was highlighted and recorded in two dozen articles in professional journals of the Higher Certification Commissions of Ukraine, the USA, Russia and the Czech Republic. The thesis was unanimously approved by the certification commission of doctors and professors of Czech universities on 30 August 2021.
At the beginning of 2021, at the end of her studies at the Palacky University, O. Matseliukh published the first scientific study of Czech organ music in Ukraine - "The Organ and the Sacred Culture of the Czech Republic" (monograph in Ukrainian).
Concert activity
O. Matseliukh's concert activity is diverse. Her concert tours practically take place in every city of Ukraine where there are organs. Over the past 10 years, she has been actively performing in cities in Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and the United States. He is a regular participant in organ festivals in Poland.
An important place in Olena Matseliukh's creative activity is occupied by her constant cooperation with the Academic Chamber Orchestra "Lviv Virtuosi" and its founder, People's Artist of Ukraine Serhiy Burko. of Ukraine Serhiy Burko. O. Matseliukh's solo performances as a solo organist and harpsichordist have become a highlight of concerts both at the Lviv Philharmonic and during the orchestra's tours around the world.
The organist's many years of performing experience are recorded on the CDs "Benedictus" ("Blessed"), "Amazing Grace" ("Incredible Grace"), on the author's CDs by composer Bohdan Kotyuk "Reflections", "Tet-a-Tet", "Mood and Spirits" & "Way to Heaven", as well as in collaboration with the famous multi-instrumentalist Igor Matseliukh on the CD "Syrinx".
Production and management activities
O. Matseliukh's organisational skills have spread to almost the entire territory of Western Ukraine. In 2015, she became the director-producer and founder of the First International Summertime Festival "Pizzicato e Cantabile" at the Lviv National Philharmonic, and in 2018, the First International Festival "Bach Contemporary".
Since 2016, she has been a producer and co-organiser of four International Organ Music Festivals in Rivne - Musica viva Organum and Festival Organ Cathedral; founder (2019) of the International Festival Lucesk Organum; and for several years has been a co-organiser of the International Organ Festivals in Chernivtsi.
In 2020, she created two new festivals at the Museum of the History of Religion: at the Dominican Fathers' Monastery, where the 700-year history of the organ in Ukraine began: Dominicalis Gloria (August) and Dona Nobis Pacem (December-January).
In 2020, Olena Matseliukh won two First Prizes in two different categories at the Gate of Hope Competition (Israel). Among her other awards are the International Virtuoso Competition 2020 (Kyiv), Iskra (2020) in the Czech Republic, as well as the Grand Prix of the Star of Versailles Competition and Festival in France and 1st prize of Orea-Fest 2021 (Berlin).
