Orest Smovzh

Performers | Instrument: Violin

Orest Smovzh is a Ukrainian violinist currently based in Helsinki, Finland.

He performs repertoire that spans over 800 years while actively commissioning and premiering contemporary music across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Venues of his recent performances include bars in Kreuzberg, locations in Amsterdam in the middle of the night, squatted buildings, iconic comic book stores, and residential attics in Helsinki, among others. He is a doctorate candidate at Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki.

Orest recently worked with pianists Ferenc Rados and Leon Fleisher, conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy, baritone Thomas Hampson, and lute player Nigel North. He collaborated in chamber performances with the members of Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Suntory Hall Chamber Music Academy, pianists Fazıl Say, Thomas Hoppe, Albert Tiu, cellist Michael Kannen, and violinist Vadim Gluzman.

As a soloist, he took part in historically informed performances with Masaaki Suzuki in Singapore and USC Baroque Sinfonia in Los Angeles, as well as participated with Midori and several organizations in outreach projects across Mexico, USA, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Italy.

Among his most active projects to date are: Condensed music — solo patchwork-like recitals with contemporary works between 4 and 60 seconds long performed in one go; Paikka concert — short community-oriented, DIY-inspired performances specially designed for unusual locations; CES — collecting and performing caprices, etudes, and studies for violin solo written since the 1970s which are the basis for his doctoral research.

Orest holds degrees from the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore, USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, and Peabody Institute in Baltimore. For the last few years, he has worked under the mentorship of Midori.

Awards

2022 Levko Revutskyi Award of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine
2021 First in the Top-10 list of contemporary music artists to collaborate with, curated by the Ukrainian Institute
2015 Tadeusz Wroński Violin Solo Competition – I prize