Olga Reznichenko, who lives in Berlin and was born in 1989 in Taganrog, Russia, on the Sea of Azov, is on a roll: First, Südwestrundfunk announced that the pianist would be awarded the SWR Jazz Prize in 2026; then she also won the German Jazz Prize in the “Piano/Keyboard Instruments” category; and now she is coming to Cologne Jazzweek as a “Featured Artist.” As a teenager, Reznichenko discovered in jazz a unique playground where she could express both her personality and her conflicting emotions.
She first studied jazz piano in Rostov, Russia, before moving to Leipzig to study with Richie Beirach at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Conservatory of Music and Dance. In 2018, she founded her jazz piano trio, which now goes simply by her initials, O.R.T. Reznichenko feels just as at home at the grand piano as she does on the keyboard and synthesizer. And whether performing with a band or alone at the piano, her improvisational music often oscillates between odd time signatures and the rawness of punk rock, frequently exploring the extremes of sound, phrasing, and tone.
