Olga Shishkina

Olga Shishkina (Russian: Ольга Шишкина; born May 23, 1985, Leningrad) is a Russian born gusli and kantele artist currently residing in Helsinki, Finland. As a gusli player, she is known for her innovative approach to the instrument such as creating new techniques and expanding the repertoire.[1] Shishkina has experimented with various music styles and during last years has been devoting her time to electric kantele to develop its use in improvisational and jazz music.

Education

Shishkina started to play gusli at the age of 8. In 1993-2001 she attended Andreev music school where she simultaneously studied gusli, piano, balalaika and classical guitar. After 2 years of studying she got the 3rd prize at the International Andreev Competition (St.Petersburg, 1996) and later took part in 2 more competitions where she got the 2nd and 3rd prizes (1998 and 2000, respectively). At the age of 16 she got 2nd prize at 6th All-Russian Competition (2001, Tver) where she became the youngest prize winner in the competition’s history. Since then Shishkina has been performing at the numerous festivals in Scandinavia, UK, Japan, USA, Switzerland and other countries. In 2003 she was accepted to St.Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire on exceptional basis without compulsory studies at music college. She majored in gusli, but at the same time also studied piano, organ and orchestral conducting. After graduating with the highest honours from the Conservatoire she continued her education at Sibelius Academy where she studied Finnish kantele, classical and jazz piano. Shishkina became the first foreigner to have graduated as a Master of Music in Finnish concert kantele in 2012. Since then she has been living and working in Helsinki. Since 2014 she has been holding a position of a Board member of Kanteleliitto, Finnish kantele association.

Collaborations

Throughout her career Shishkina has been involved in different music genres. Since 2004 she has been playing in a duo with a Russian flutist Alexander Kiskachi where her instrument is a chromatic gusli. Since 2008 Shishkina has been living and working in Helsinki. She has collaborated with a Finnish guitarist Timo Kämäräinen, trumpeter Mika Mylläri, vocalists Terttu Iso-Oja and Saara Aalto. In 2013 she was invited as a special guest to perform at Jazz Harp Festival (Leiden, Netherlands) where she appeared together with a Grammy-nominated jazz harpist Deborah Henson-Conant. In January 2014 Shishkina was involved as both a musician and a composer in a theatre play "Finnphonia Emigrantica" produced by European Theatre Collective. The play got positive reviews in Finnish major newspapers. In October 2014 Shishkina performed at Viljandi Guitar Festival with an Estonian well-known jazz guitarist Ain Agan. Apart from gusli and kantele, Shishkina also appeared on Chinese guzheng on a few occasions.

Awards

Recordings

Solo albums

Olga Shishkina. Con Brillio (2010) ERP Estonian record productions

Appears also on

Sound of Koli (2011), concert and electric kantele, Koistinen Kantele

Brazilian Aeroplane “Simetria: Bo Kasper in Brazil” (2010), electric kantele, piano

Saara Aalto “Angels” (2011), concert kantele

Pepe Deluxe “Queen of the Wave” (2011), wing-shaped and chromatic gusli

YLE Finnish broadcasting company TV Documentary production of Kati Juurus’ “Kaksi miestä Kiinasta” (2011), guzheng

Jukka Tiensuu YLE radio recording, Egregore (2012), concert kantele

References

  1. ↑ http://www.erpmusic.com/artists/instrumentalists/olga-shishkina

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