Illia Ovcharenko

Country – Ukraine
Age—20

Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree at the Buchmann-Mehta school of music in Tel Aviv under the tutelage of Arie Vardi, Illia Ovcharenko has already performed with leading orchestras including the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Pomeranian Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, National Radio of Ukraine, and the Versailles Conservatory String Orchestra collaborating with prestigious conductors such as Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Arie Vardi, Ian Hobson , Mykola Diadyura, Kai Bumann, Benoit Girault, Volodymyr Sirenko, Nicolo Giuliani, and Vitaly Protasov.

Illia is a frequent participant in music festivals worldwide in countries including France, Ukraine, Israel, the United States, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. He has appeared at the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Festival (Israel), the Aspen Music Festival (US), Festival Auvers sur Oise and the Pontoise Piano Campus (France), Bern Interlaken Classics (Switzerland), Marktoberdorf Music Festival (Germany), and others. The recipient of the Polonsky Fellowship (2019, 2021), he studied at the Aspen Music Festival with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Hung Kuan Chen.

Among his recent achievements are becoming the laureate of the Busoni International Piano Competition (2021, Italy), winning the Michelangeli Prize at the Eppan International Piano Academy (Italy), as well as first prizes at the Horowitz International Piano Competition (2019, Ukraine), the Prix du Piano Bern (2021, Switzerland), the Viseu International Piano Competition (2021, Portugal), and the Eppan Junior Academy (2017). He won second prize at the Singapore International Piano Competition (2021), Aspen Piano Concerto Competition (2019) and Campillos International Piano Competition (2021, Spain).

Illia is a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship of Ukraine.

Repertoire

Round I

Scarlatti                     Sonata in E major, K. 20

Scarlatti                     Sonata in F minor, K. 466

Schumann                 Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22

Liszt                            Grandes Études de Paganini No. 3 La Campanella in G-sharp minor, S. 141

Round II

Schubert/Liszt         Litanei No. 1 in E-flat major, S. 562

Rachmaninoff          Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 36

Round III

Beethoven                  Sonata No. 26 in E-flat major, Op. 81a

Liszt                            Sonata in B minor, S. 178

Round IV

Tchaikovsky              Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23