Gusli: from archaic to the present day, a talk by Olga Shishkina

We invite you to a lecture presented by Olga Shishkina, an accomplished musician, gusli and kantele artist with over 20 years of experience performing on the international music scene. Olga will talk about gusli, one of the traditional Russian string instruments, and its history, and demonstrate different playing techniques and unique qualities of this unusual instrument rarely seen on modern music stages. Olga also will be giving a concert on October 19 at 19:00. Please follow this link if you are interested to attend - https://allevents.in/cambridge/duo-exceptionnel-from-baroque-to-contemporary-gusli-and-piano-recital/80001615509182?ref=smdl

Olga Shishkina graduated summa cum laude from St. Petersburg Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov where she studied gusli, piano, organ, and orchestral conducting (2008). Later, in 2012, she pursued postgraduate studies at Sibelius Academy (Helsinki, Finland). In 2022 she graduated with the highest grade from Berklee College of Music (Boston, Massachusetts). She performed in Russia and beyond: Conservatoire Rachmaninoff and Maison russe des sciences et de la culture à Paris (Paris, France), Trinity Episcopal Church and Legacy Art Gallery (Santa Barbara, California), Mariinsky Concert Hall (St. Petersburg, Russia), His Majesty's Theatre (Aberdeen, Scotland), Royal Swedish Opera (Stockholm, Sweden) and others.

Olga took part in Cambridge Summer Music Festival in 2004 and the Russian Music Festival organised by Clare College in 2005.

During the last few years she composed music for the Finnish documentary “To Siberia with My Love” (dir. P. Flinckenberg) in 2017, and, by invitations from prominent musicians, took part in soundtrack recording projects (“Moscow Noir” in Sweden in 2018; “Torchlight 3” in the USA in 2020).

Host or Publisher The Cambridge Russian-Speaking Society (CamRuSS)