Olga Stezhko was born in Minsk, Belarus. At the age of three she began to sing and perform in the famous national creative group “Gostzitza” and toured from Scandinavia to the far east of Russia. Olga began to play piano when she was five years old and entered the Republican Music College in Minsk a year later. She studied with the famous Belarusian pianists Oleg Krimer and Evgeny Pukst and graduated with a distinction. In 2002 Olga received one of the few music scholarships to study at the prestigious United World College of the Adriatic in Italy where her teachers were Alberto Miodini and the legendary Trio di Trieste. In 2004 she entered the Royal Academy of Music with a scholarship. Olga completed her Bachelor degree with First Class Honours in 2008 and currently continues her Master’s program with Ian Fountain. Her studies are supported by the Royal Academy of Music, Musicians' Benevolent Fund and Martin Musical Scholarship Fund.
Olga is the winner of many international piano competitions. The most recent prize is the Grand Prix at the First European Piano Competition "Halina Czerny-Stefanska in memoriam" in Poland. Other awards include 1st Prize Bradshaw&Buono International Piano Competition (USA), 1st Prize the Stefano Marizza Piano Competition (Italy), 1st Prize the N.Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Paris, 1st Prize the Chopin International Piano Competition for Young Pianists (Poland) and others. Recently she was chosen as one of the three winners of the Tillett Trust Young Artists' Platform scheme and will make her debut in Wigmore Hall in September 2010. She is also a holder of the Winifred Christie Trust Award, the Frances Earle Award, the Miriam Duncan Scholarship and the Krein Scholarship as well as many other awards from the Royal Academy of Music. In 2009 she received the prestigious Myra Hess Scholarship from the Musicians' Benevolent Fund and the Philharmonia Orchestra/Martin Musical Fund Scholarship Award. Olga participated in various masterclasses with such distinguished musicians as the late H.Czerny-Stefanska, the late A.Satz, Sir Maxwell Davies, I.Fliter, L.Zilberstein, G.Ohlsson, D.Bashkirov, P.Lane, J.Rose, Fou Ts'ong and others.
At the age of eight Olga made her debut at the stage of the National Opera House in Minsk and a year later her international debut at the Music Academy in Bialostok, Poland. Since then she has given numerous performances at the most important halls in Belarus including performances with the State Symphony Orchestra in the Main Philharmonic Hall in Minsk and the Symphony Orchestra of the Belarusian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Olga has also toured with solo, chamber and orchestra concerts in Poland, Germany, Russia, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, the UK and Spain. In October 2007 she made her New York debut at Carnegie Hall. In 2008 and 2009 she participated in Encuentro de Musica y Academia de Santander in Spain and played solo and chamber concerts at venues including Sala Argenta and Sala Pereda at Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria and collaborating with such artists as violinist Peter Cropper (Lindsay Quartet) and cellist Ivan Monighetti. Olga is frequently broadcasted on the national radio and television.
Olga Stezhko is extremely grateful to Mr Massimo Prelz for his generous and continuous support.