Illia Ovcharenko

Honens Prize Laureate

Illia Ovcharenko

Praised as “technically flawless and impeccably musical” (International Piano), winner of the lauded 2022 Honens International Piano Competition, 21-year-old Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko has taken the piano world by storm. The Honens International Piano Competition stands apart from all other competitions in their core of valuing and rewarding the “Complete Artist.” Ovcharenko embodies Honens’ ideal with his technical mastery, perseverance against adversity, and an understanding of musical text that is intellectual and emotional. Highlights of the 2022 / 2023 season include two Carnegie Hall performances and an international tour spanning Brussels, Paris, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Germany, and Canada.

Ovcharenko is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien following his studies at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv under the tutelage of Arie Vardie. He has performed with leading orchestras including the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Pomeranian Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, National Radio of Ukraine, Versailles Conservatory String Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated with prestigious conductors such as Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Arie Vardi, Ian Hobson, Mykola Diadyura, Kai Bumann, Benoit Girault, Volodymyr Sirenko, Nicolo Giuliani, Jeffrey Kahane, and Vitaly Protasov.

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

Prior to winning the Honens International Piano Competition in 2022, Ovcharenko won the New York International Piano Competition in 2022, received Second Prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition in 2022, became Laureate of the Busoni International Piano Competition (Italy) in 2021, won the Michelangeli Prize at the Eppan International Piano Academy in Italy, and claimed First Prize at the Horowitz International Piano Competition in Ukraine in 2019.

Ovcharenko is a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship of Ukraine. He is represented by Kanzen Artists.

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