• Head shot of violin professor Oleg Pokhanovski
  • Professor, Desautels Faculty of Music

    Room 247 Taché Hall
    150 Dafoe Road
    University of Manitoba (Fort Garry Campus)
    Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2

    204-474-8637

    Oleg.Pokhanovski@umanitoba.ca

Dr. Oleg Pokhanovski is an accomplished virtuosic violinist, pianist, arranger, and music educator who has performed over 2000 concerts as a soloist - both nationally and internationally - in symphonic, recital and chamber music performances. Pokhanovski is frequently invited to and has adjudicated both strings and piano at music festivals all across Canada.

  • In the faculty

     

Education

I love the very process of students getting more involved in perfecting a piece to make it sound better and better, so they can finally perform it to the absolute best of their abilities. Finding a solution to a problem of any kind and seeing students enjoying their playing more gives me great satisfaction.
Oleg Pokhanovski Professor, Desautels Faculty of Music

Performance highlights

Pokhanovski has performed over 2000 concerts as a soloist in symphonic, recital and chamber music performances in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Israel and Russia. He has been presented in Carnegie Recital Hall, the Grand Hall in Moscow, the Concertgebouw, Knight Hall in Prague, Place des Arts in Montréal and others. Most recently, he has performed his own challenging transcriptions, including Paganini's 24 Caprices, Ravel's La Valse, Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre and many others in Canada and abroad. His concerts have brought rave reviews calling him a “Russian Paganini” and describing his playing as “brilliant”, “phenomenal”, “outstanding”, and “extraordinary."
 

Awards

Pokhanovski is a top prizewinner of eight prestigious international violin competitions including the Paganini in Genova, Sarasate in Pamplona and CIEM in Geneva, among others. He twice received the prestigious Canada Council National Career Development Grant, and multiple Conceil des Arts du Quebec and Manitoba Arts Council Grants.
 

Ongoing research and creative works

Pokhanovski is renowned for creating over 200 virtuosic transcriptions for violin and piano, as well as other instruments, and has produced professional CD recordings of many of these. He continues to transcribe new masterpieces for violin and piano and perform them with international prize-winning pianist Scott Meek. Pokhanovski is also a member of the recently formed Desautels Trio and often performs as a chamber musician with other members of the trio, cellist Minna Rose Chung and pianist Judy Kehler Siebert in his concert series Oleg and Friends in Winnipeg, also in Canada and abroad. 

Pokhanovski is an in-demand adjudicator at music festivals all across Canada. He has also been invited to be an adjudicator for the ENKOR international competition for violin, piano and chamber music. Pokhanovski is a Founder and Artistic Director of the “Oleg and Friends” concert series in Winnipeg. He performs solo and chamber works with university colleagues and guest musicians, presenting 4-5 concerts a year.