Winner of the 2022 Honens International Piano Competition, 22-year-old Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko has taken the piano world by storm. Furthermore, in the past eight years, he has been awarded prizes at more than 20 other competitions throughout the world; in the last two years these have included first prize at the New York international competition and second prize at the Hilton Head International competition in 2022, and first prize at “Prix du Piano” Bern International Competition and The Michelangeli Prize of the Eppan Piano Academy (Italy) in 2021; the same year, he was also a Laureate of the Busoni International Piano Competition (Bergamo, Italy), and the Singapore International Competition.
Embodying the values of The Honens International Piano Competition which rewards “The Complete Artist”, Illia Ovcharenko has already been praised for his technical mastery, perseverance against adversity, and a unique intellectual and emotional understanding of musical text. The 2022-23 season saw successful debuts at Carnegie Hall, Bravo!Vail and Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Dresden Internartional Festival, as well as an international recital tour with concerts in Brussels, Paris, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Germany, and Canada, and concerto appearances with La Monnaie Symphony in Brussels, Jerusalem Symphony, and l’Orchestre National d’Île de France. Highlights of the 2023-24 season include debuts with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Liechtenstein Symphony, and Haifa Symphony, as well as his return to the Calgary Philharmonic. The same season also sees Illia Ovcharenko’s recital debuts at Koerner Hall in Toronto, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Sendesaal in Hannover, Robert-Schumann-Saal in Düsseldorf, and Salle Bourgie in Montréal.
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Born in Ukraine, in a non-musical family to a computer engineer mother and an athlete and coach father, Illia Ovcharenko discovered the unattended upright- piano sitting in a corner of his house at a tender age. At the age of six, he was taken to a performance of Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto; after the concert, Illia told his mother he wanted to be a pianist when he grew up, and began his formal musical tuition. Success rapidly followed, and he made his concert debut at the National Philharmonic Hall of Ukraine at the age of 12 before moving to Kiev to attend the Kyiv Lysenko Sate Music Lyceum for gifted children. He then went on to study in Israel with Arie Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien.
Concerto No. 1 in C-major (op.15)
Concerto No.2 in B-flat Major
Concerto No. 3 in c-minor (op.35)
Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major (op.73)
Triple Concerto C Major (op.56)
Bortkiewicz
Concerto No.2 for the left hand (op.28)
Chopin
Piano concerto No.2 in F-minor (op.21)
Haydn
Concerto in D Major Hob.18:11
Liszt
Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major (S.124)
Concerto No.2 in A-Major (S.125)
Mendelssohn
Concerto No. 1 in G-minor (op.25)
Double Concerto for piano & violin in D minor (MWV04)
Mozart
Concerto No.10 in E-Flat Major for Two Pianos (K. 365/316a)
Concerto No.17 in G-major (K453)
Concerto No.20 in d-minor (K.466)
Concerto No.12 in A-Major (K.414)
Concerto No.23 in A-major (K.488)
