Biography
Oksana Velychko (Gaidash)
Born on February 23, 1988, in Mukachevo, Transcarpathian Region, Ukraine, Oksana Velychko showed early leadership skills and a desire to teach. Her path took a different turn in pedagogical college, where an encounter with a vocal teacher awakened her love for music. Private lessons grew into a deep passion, and she decided to dedicate her life to music.
In 2006, Oksana began her studies in academic vocal and choral conducting at the Desiderii Zador Uzhhorod State Music College. She continued her education at the Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy, earning a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting in 2015. While in Lviv, she gained valuable experience as an assistant conductor for the Dudaryk Choir and the Galician Chamber Choir and founded a youth choir. These roles allowed her to develop her skills both as a leader and a musician.
In 2017, Oksana moved to Kyiv to specialize in opera and symphonic conducting at the Tchaikovsky Ukrainian National Music Academy under the guidance of Professor Viktor Zdorenko, completing her Master’s degree in 2023. During this period, she founded and conducted a professional choir at the Church of the Nativity in Kyiv (2018–2022) and established the KOLO Chamber Ensemble in 2020, giving young musicians opportunities to perform as soloists. She also led the Ba-In Vocal Ensemble at the Confucius Music Centre (2021–2022) and assisted in opera productions such as Rachmaninoff’s *Aleko*, Verdi’s *La Traviata*, Gluck’s *Orpheus and Euridice*, and Mozart’s *The Marriage of Figaro*.
When war broke out in February 2022, Oksana relocated to Dresden, Germany. There she studied orchestral conducting within Erasmus program under the guidance of Professor Ekkehard Klemm and took on roles as an assistant conductor for the Boys’ Choir at the Heinrich Schuetz Conservatory and as a guest conductor at the Landesbuehnen Sachsen theatre. In march 2024 Oksana was guest conductor at Astana National Philharmonic Orchestra (Kazakhstan).
Oksana has participated in several international conducting masterclasses, including with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Collin Metters (2018), the Chernihiv Philharmonic Orchestra with Maestra Mitsunobu Takaya (2019), and the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra with Maestros Mark Laycock (2023) and Alim Shakh (2024). She participated in Summer School of opera conducting at the State Opera and Ballet Theatre in Kyiv in 2022 with Maestro Viktor Ploskina. From July to August 2024 Oksana was assistant conductor at Berlin Opera Academy in production of Mozart’s “Magic Flute”.
In addition to her work in music, Oksana is interested in foreign languages and psychology. She views music as a universal language and strives to interpret composers’ messages, bringing them to life for audiences all over the world.