8.1.2026 | Person

Rock Dreams Turned Into Jazz—Oleg Pissarenko’s Path to Becoming a Composer

Teksti Susanna Poikela 
Kuva Stanislav Moshkov, Tiit Mõtus, 
Kalev Lilleorg, family album

“The sea and the forest are important elements to me. When you look out over the open sea, you feel small. That feeling contains the philosophy I love and try to follow in my life as well,” Pissarenko says.

Oleg Pissarenko gazes through the café window at the wooden-house district of Pelgulinn. It reminds him of Karlova in Tartu, a neighbourhood he came to know well while teaching at the Heino Eller Music School between 2007 and 2015.

He himself studied at the Georg Ots Music School, in Tallinn and graduated as a pop and jazz guitarist in 2001. “I was supposed to become a rock star, but jazz swept me away. When I find something interesting, I tend to immerse myself in it completely,” Pissarenko recalls.

His thoughts return to his first lessons at an Estonian-language educational institution. For an 18-year-old whose native language was Russian, it was a true language immersion experience. “I had quite a serious language problem when I started my music studies in Tallinn. I understood about ten percent of what was being said. There was nothing else to do but learn Estonian,” Pissarenko says. Today, he speaks Estonian more carefully and fluently than the interviewer sitting across from him.

The release concert of Oleg Pissarenko’s album “Seisundi muusika”, or in English “Music of Your Condition”, was held at Viimsi Artium in 2024. The album reflects the core of the composer’s current musical philosophy.

Alongside the guitar, the piano has taken on an increasingly prominent role in his performances.

Festivals and Composing

Over the years, Pissarenko has recorded albums, performed concerts, organised various concert series, and run festivals—most notably iDeeJazz and Narva-Jõesuu Jazz. This autumn, he will expand his activities to Italy, where Milano Jazz Vibes will be held for the first time. Despite a demanding pace, his compositional work has not suffered; he has found time to create music for twelve albums.

As a composer, he is versatile. Pissarenko moves at the intersection of jazz, ambient, and minimalism. His pieces feel more like landscapes than traditional songs. They carry a sense of melancholy that is not heavy or gloomy, but rather hopeful and dreamy.

The composer and musician has also chosen not to be managed by others. Instead, he handles sales and marketing himself, apparently with great skill. Oleg Pissarenko seems to have time for everyone, and answers questions politely and without delay.

“An American friend once told me that if I had been born in the United States, I would be rich by now. But this lifestyle suits me—being with people and then retreating into peace and quiet to make music. I have the opportunity to develop my abilities more broadly. If I had only composed, I would never have discovered that I can also organise festivals,” Pissarenko explains.

Oleg in his grandfather’s arms. He spent his childhood in Kreenholm, Narva.

A Language Environment Also Changes One’s Personality

“There are cycles in life that change you from the inside. I am no longer the same person I was, for example, as a child. First of all, I lived in a different linguistic environment. Communicating in different languages is different. In Narva, life revolved around Kreenholm and Narva, and I didn’t know much about the rest of Estonia,” Pissarenko reflects.

Oleg’s grandfather was the director of the Kreenholm factory in Narva. At the time, the factory employed 11,000 people. His grandmother managed a smaller factory in Narva. His mother worked as head of the personnel department at Kreenholm, and his father was a teacher. From his father, Oleg learned to play the guitar. “My father believed that if you learn to play the guitar and sing, you’ll get a lot of friends. In that, he was right.”

Oleg Pissarenko regularly visits Narva-Jõesuu. He is drawn there both by his work as the organiser of the Narva-Jõesuu Jazz festival, and by his mother, who spends her summers in the charming spa town.