Olesya Rostovskaya
Olesya Rostovskaya is a Russian composer, multi-instrumentalist, campanologist, and performer on the organ, carillon, theremin, ANS synthesizer, and bells in the Russian ringing tradition. She was born in Moscow on January 6, 1975.
She studied piano with Anna Artobolevskaya. After the Central Music School, she graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, completing studies in composition in 1998 with Albert Lehman and in organ in 1999 with Oleg Yanchenko. In 1998 she began studying theremin with Lydia Kavina at the Theremin Center of the Moscow Conservatory. She completed assistant internships in composition in 2000 and in organ in 2001. Since 2003 she has also worked as a bell ringer.
In 2008 Rostovskaya graduated from Saint Petersburg State University in carillon, where she studied with Jo Haazen, and in 2009 she completed the Royal Carillon School “Jef Denyn” in Mechelen, Belgium. She teaches carillon at the Department of Organ, Harpsichord, and Carillon of Saint Petersburg State University.
As a composer, she works actively in electronic music and writes for symphony and chamber orchestras, various ensembles, choir, organ, carillon, bells, theremin, and voice, as well as music for theater, radio, and electroacoustic projects. Her works include two concertos for theremin and orchestra, Pas de deux for carillon and orchestra, the musical Cupid, Pharaoh and Buns after O. Henry, the musical tales Ashik-Kerib after Mikhail Lermontov and Smells of Almond after Sergei Georgiev, an Electronic Mass, St. Mark Passion, the mystery The Enchanted Land for carillon and electronics, the mystery Incantation of the Elements for theremin, organ, shamanic drum, orchestra, and electronics, and a number of works for the ANS synthesizer. She also reconstructed the lost score of Alexander Pashchenko’s Symphonic Mystery, described here as the first work in the world written specifically for theremin.
Her scores have been exhibited in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Kazan. Her music has been performed at the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Zaryadye Concert Hall, the Russian National Museum of Music, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Luzhniki Sports Palace, the Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall, the Pro Arte Foundation, the Peter and Paul Fortress, and many other venues in Russia, across Western and Eastern Europe, and in the United States.
As a performer, Rostovskaya has appeared with orchestras led by Alexei Morgunov, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Ponkin, Stanislav Malyshev, Vladimir Lande, Veronika Dudarova, Rashit Nigamatullin, Dmitry Filatov, Sergei Skripka, Svetlana Bezrodnaya, Azat Shakhmukhametov, Eduard Serov, and Vladislav Bulakhov, and with the choirs Blagovest and the choir of the Church-Museum of Saint Nicholas in Tolmachi at the Tretyakov Gallery. She was a soloist of the ensembles Duo inventum and Ars mirabilis, and she also performed with the Studio for New Music and the Pan-Asian Ensemble.
She is also active as a solo performer on organ, carillon, and theremin. Her repertoire includes classical and contemporary works, improvisations, and her own compositions. She has created original concert programs such as Disco of the 16th Century, The Secret Life of Church Organists, Famous Pedal Solos, What Peter the Great Heard from the Carillon Tower, The Soul of the Bell: Russian Music on the Carillon, and Playing on the Waves. Improvisation on theremin and carillon occupies an important place in her concerts.
Rostovskaya is engaged in extensive educational work. In 2008 she wrote the book Mastery of Bell Music Performance: Parallels of Russian and Flemish Traditions. In 2009 the booklet What Is a Carillon? was published in Russian, and she also issued the CD The Soul of the Bell: Russian Music on the Carillon. She gives seminars and master classes on theremin performance, including Theremin: Practical Magic, and published the article How to Compose Music for Theremin. She is also the author of two radio program series, Secrets of the Musician and Don Carillon.
Her discography includes solo and collaborative recordings centered on carillon, theremin, organ, and electronic music. Among them are The Soul of the Bell: Russian Music on the Carillon, described here as the first audio disc of carillon music devoted entirely to Russian composers, What Peter the First Heard from the Carillon Bell Tower, Soul of the Bell 2, Disco of the 16th Century, Like Breath: Carillon Improvisations, and recordings connected with Missa Electronica Paschalis and other projects. She has received awards in composition, improvisation, and recording, including the International Pure Sound awards in 2019 and 2021. Rostovskaya is a member of the Union of Composers of Russia, the Russian Association for Electroacoustic Music, and the Association of Organists of Russia.