Olga Yefremova
is an outstanding Ukrainian organist, educator, and cultural ambassador.
She heads the organ and piano department at the Odesa Music Academy.
Olga Yefremova is one of Ukraine’s leading organists, known for the breadth, depth and ambition of her repertoire and for her longstanding contribution to the musical life of Odesa.
A graduate of the Odesa Conservatory, where she studied both piano and organ with distinction, she continued her training at the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatory under the renowned organist Nina Oksentyan. She later specialized in early music at the Kuopio Conservatory in Finland, studying organ, harpsichord and clavichord with Mikko Korhonen, and further refined her artistry in Stuttgart with the eminent German organist Ludger Lohmann. She has also participated in masterclasses with such distinguished figures as Jon Laukvik, David Titterington, Michael Radulescu and Lionel Rogg among many others.
Since 1999, Efremova has played a central role in developing Odesa’s organ culture through her concert series Organ in the World of Music, bringing ambitious programmes and major works of the organ repertoire to local audiences. She has also made archival recordings for radio and television and released recordings on CD.
Alongside her international performing career, Yefremova teaches organ and piano at the Odesa National Music Academy, where she heads the organ and piano classes. Many of her students have gone on to pursue further studies and professional careers in Ukraine and abroad.
RECORDING
Concert at Frauenkirche Dresden
Experience an unforgettable evening of organ music in the heart of Dresden at the magnificent Frauenkirche. This concert brings together a diverse and captivating selection of works, tracing the evolution of the organ repertoire from the intricate textures of the Baroque to the grandeur of the French Symphonic tradition.
CURATED MUSICAL PROGRAMMeS
She was the first to introduce Odesa audiences to Bach’s exceptionally demanding Part III of the Clavier-Übung, as well as all 45 chorales from the Orgelbüchlein and all six of Mendelssohn’s organ sonatas.
Her repertoire includes monumental and deeply dramatic works: Robert Schumann’s Six Fugues on the Name BACH, large-scale compositions by Julius Reubke, the refined academicism of Sigfrid Karg-Elert, and some of the great spiritual and philosophical works of the 20th century — The Book of Job and Faust by Petr Eben, and La Nativité du Seigneur by Olivier Messiaen.
From Bach to Messiaen and Ukrainian contemporary music, Olga Yefremova brings the organ’s enduring voice into the present.