Career Overview

By the time of his American debut at Carnegie Hall in 1971, world-renowned violinist Oleh Krysa had already earned distinction and acclaim throughout the USSR. In addition to establishing a reputation as a soloist, Krysa also achieved prominence as a chamber musician and teacher. A highly regarded student of David Oistrakh, Krysa attended the Moscow Conservatory and went on to win the Paganini Competition and major prizes in competitions such as the Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky, and Montreal. Currently Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music, Krysa began his teaching career in 1967 as chairman of the Violin Department at the Kiev Conservatory.

While teaching at the Kiev Conservatory, Krysa remained very active as a performer. One of the major highlights from this period came during the 1971-72 season, when Krysa debuted a unique cycle of 6 concerts in Kiev titled "The Development of Violin Concerto" -- 18 Violin Concertos including concertos by Bach No. 2, Haydn No. 2, Viotti No. 22, Mozart No. 3, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Paganini No. 1, Lalo, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev No. 1, Shostakovich No. 1, Bartok No. 1, Berg, Sibelius, Hubarenko, Shtoharenko, and Skoryk No. 1. Krysa repeated the concerto cycle in Lviv for the 1972-73 season.

In 1973, he accepted a position as chairman of the Violin Department at the Gnesins Musical and Pedagogical Institute in Moscow. The following year, Krysa received an invitation from venerated master violinist David Oistrakh to serve as Oistrakh's assistant at the Moscow Conservatory. Due to Oistrakh's untimely passing two months later, Krysa took over Oistrakh's studio for the remainder of the academic year. All of Oistrakh's students stayed on and studied under Krysa for the full term. Krysa's tenure as Professor of Violin at the Moscow Conservatory lasted until 1988.

Krysa moved with his family to the United States in 1989. He taught at the Manhattan School of Music from 1990 to 1993, at which time he accepted his current position at the Eastman School.

He has conducted master classes regularly in North America (New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Rochester, Los Angeles, Bloomington, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Oberlin, Knoxville, West Palm Beach, Las Vegas, Montreal, Toronto, Banff), Europe (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Vilnius, Kiev, Odessa, Lviv, Novosibirsk, Tashkent, Almaty, Stockholm, Korsholm, Kuhmo, Paris, Madrid, Oviedo, Hannover, Freiburg, Hitzacker, Weimar, Warsaw, Lancut, Sofia, Plovdiv), Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagano, Hamamatsu, Kanazawa), Korea (Seoul), China (Shanghai, Shenyang), Singapore, Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Townsville), and New Zealand (Christchurch).

In 2009, Krysa was a Visiting Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. He is also Honored Professor at Lviv Academy of Music (Ukraine) and Honored Member of the Japanese String Teachers Association.

Krysa has played solo recitals in major music centers (Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Great Hall of Leningrad Philharmonia, Column Hall of Kiev Philharmonia, Warsaw Philharmonia, Concertgebouw, Brahms Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Teatro alla Scala, Santa Cecilia Hall, Semper Oper, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center, Orchestra Hall Chicago, Roy Thomson Hall, Place des Arts, Suntory Hall, Minato Mirai Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Taiwan's National Concert Hall, among others).

He has appeared as a soloist with numerous leading orchestras and ensembles (Moscow, Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Kiev, Lviv, Odessa, T'bilisi, Yerevan, Baku, Tashkent, Almaty, London, Glasgow, Stockholm, Malmo, Helsinki, Bergen, Berlin, Bonn, Leipzig, Dresden, Stuttgart, Weimar, Geneva, Turin, Prague, Brno, Warsaw, Crakow, Katowize, Poznan, Budapest, Bucharest, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sofia, Plovdiv, Istanbul, Ankara, Cairo, New York, Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, Albuquerque, Miami, Las Vegas, Montreal, Toronto, Yokohama, Kanazawa, Canberra, Wellington, Cape Town, Cairo etc.), and has performed and taught at major festivals and summer schools (Moscow Stars, Warsaw Autumn, Wiener Fest, Lockenhaus, Schleswig-Holstein International Music Festival, International Bachaakademie Stuttgart, Edinburgh International Music Festival, Kuhmo International Chamber Music Festival, Korsholm Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Park City International Chamber Music Festival, Banff Music Festival, Weimar Music Festival, Lancut Music Festival, Nagano Music Festival, Kawaguchi-ko Music Festival, Perth International Music Festival, Townsville International Chamber Music Festival, Wellington International Music Festival, Aria International Summer Music Academy, Inter Harmony Music Academy, Niagara-on-the- Lake Music Academy, Ishikawa Music Academy, Hamamatsu Summer Seminar, etc).

Krysa has collaborated with conductors such as Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Kirill Kondrashin, Dimitri Kitajenko, Alexander Dmitriev, Alexander Lazarev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Igor Blazhkov, Mark Ermler, Yuri Simonov, Lev Markiz, Saulius Sondeckis, Arvid Jansons, Neeme Jaarvi, Eri Klas, Stepan Turchak, Volodymyr Kozhuhar, Volodymyr Sirenko, Roman Kofman, Isaac Pain, Demyan Pelekhatyj, Igor Simovich, Taras Krysa, Virko Baley, Theodore Kuchar, Victor Yampolsky, Yerzy Semkow, Sakari Oramo, Kurt Sanderling, James de Preist, etc.

In addition to his thriving solo career, Krysa was leader of the Kiev Conservatory Quartet (1970-1973), Leontovych Quartet (1999-2003), and the celebrated Beethoven String Quartet (1977-1987).

Krysa champions contemporary music and has worked closely with Alfred Schnittke, Edison Denisov, Sofia Gubaidulina, Krzsyzstof Penderecki, Vyacheslav Artyomov, Virko Baley, Myroslav Skoryk, Valentin Silvestrov, Yevhen Stankovych, Natalia Rozhko, Sydney Hodkinson, and Larry Sitsky. He has premiered a number of their works and many have been written specifically for him.

Krysa has recorded on the Melodiya, Bis, Triton, Olympia, TNC, Amadis, Polskie Nagranie, and Russian Disc labels.

Krysa has served on the jury panel of many competitions, including the International Tchaikovsky, Wieniawski, Paganini, Kreisler, Sarasate, Joachim, Bach, Oistrakh, Michael Hill, Wronski Solo Violin Competition, Brescia Violin Competition, Montreal Violin Competition, Almaty Violin Competition, Quingdao Violin Competition, Sendai Violin Competition, Osaka Chamber Music Competition, Singapore Violin Competition, and Moscow Viola Competition.

Mr. Krysa was married to pianist Tatiana Tchekina, who has been his partner in most of his recitals and recordings before death in December 7, 2013.

He performs on a J. B. Guadagnini 1758 on generous loan from the Eastman School of Music.