Young Ukrainian baritone Oleskandr Pushniak enjoyed his success at Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival during the summer of 2010, singing the role of Simone in Gianni Schicchi, conducted by Maestro Maazel and directed by William Kerley.

In 2007, baritone Pushniak was a semi-finalist in Placido Domingo’s ‘Operalia’ competition held in Paris, and became a prize winner of the ‘European Song Contest’ within the Styriarte Music Festival in Austria.

In March 2008, Pushniak joined the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program where he worked to master his professional skills. During this period with Washington National Opera he has performed in several productions during the 2008-2009 season: Dottore Grenvil (Traviata, Verdi); Petrucci (Lucretia Borgia, Donizetti); Mandarin (Turandot, Puccini).

In the 2009-2010 season, Pushniak also performed Fiorello (Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini); Antonio (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart); Conte (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart); Falstaff (Falstaff, Verdi – Young Artists Performance), as well as many other concert performances with the Young Artists Program.

In 2002, Pushniak entered the National Music Academy, Ukraine where he graduated in 2007 with a degree in music and vocal performance.

At the National Music Academy of Ukraine, Pushniak performed a number of operatic roles: Wagner (“Faust“, Gounod); Bartolo (“The Marriage of Figaro“, Mozart); Dulcamara (“Elixir of love“, Donizetti); Marco (Puccini “Gianni Schicci“), as well as roles in several Ukrainian operas e.g., Vyborny from “Natalka Poltavka” of M.Lysenko, Karas from “Zaporozhets’ za Dunaem” of S.Gulak-Artemovsky.