Olga Kern: A Journey Through Rachmaninoff and Beyond

Moscow-born pianist Olga Kern is recognised as one of her generation’s most exquisite performers. Flitting from one concert stage to the next, Kern enjoys a schedule that is packed through the year. It is a life she had always dreamed about—from the very day she took the stage at age seven. Kern had her first international win at the Concertino Praga competition when she was 11 and won the first prize at the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at 17 years. At 25, she became the first woman in over 30 years to receive the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and has featured in three documentaries about the prestigious event.

With a competition to her name—The Olga Kern International Piano Competition, launched in 2016—the Steinway Artist is a force to reckon with and is known for her command over extensive classical repertoire and complete control of technique. At present, amid her many engagements across the world from the USA to South Africa and Milan to Mumbai, Kern has her heart set on helping young musicians grow and pursue successful careers. She is professor at the Manhattan School of Music and director of the chamber music series at the Virginia Arts festival in the US where she presents many an interesting chamber music concert, always making sure to include young musicians on the roster.

Excerpts from an interview:

ON Stage: Music runs in your family. Please tell us more.

Olga Kern: I grew up in a family with many generations of musicians. Both my parents were pianists and my mother was my first teacher. My father worked as a musician at the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra for over 45 years. My grandfather was professor of oboe. My great grandmother was mezzo soprano and worked in the Kharkiv opera house in Ukraine. She was a good friend of Rachmaninoff and they performed many concerts together. My great-great-grandmother was a pianist and good friend of Tchaikovsky. My brother, Vladimir Kern, who works in Shanghai, is a conductor, trumpet player, pianist, composer and teacher. We performed a Grieg concerto last March when I was in Shanghai. It was special! My son, Vladislav Kern, is also a pianist.

OS: You played your first concert at age seven. What are your memories of this milestone?

OK: I played a Haydn concerto with the orchestra. When I went onstage and felt those warm stage lights on me and energy from the public, I remember loving it. I was so excited that I didn’t want to leave the stage after I finished my concert. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to perform all my life.

OS: How has your education shaped you as a pianist?

OK: I was very lucky to have such wonderful teachers as Evgeny Timakin, Sergei Dorensky and Boris Petrushansky. The right education is important in every profession. It is also important for musicians to start their education at an early age to build the technical foundation and understanding of music so that they can concentrate on real music-making, personal ideas and the philosophy behind each composition later at a more mature age.

OS: What are your thoughts on the importance of participating in competitions?

OK: It is through competitions that young musicians can show their talent to the world. The prestigious ones offer opportunities to start your career as a concert artiste, providing management and recording opportunities too. I always encourage my students to participate in competitions. Winning the Van Cliburn competition gave me a start in my career. I got what I had always wanted—to perform all over the world, work with renowned musicians, conductors and orchestras, and record albums. Of course, after you win you need to be prepared to perform a wide range of programmes and repertoire, and work and travel a lot. You need to be ready for it.

OS: You’ve spoken about the role of physical and emotional fitness as a piano player.

OK: Playing the piano is a physical activity. It is a big instrument and requires strength. Besides, many compositions written for the piano have emotional connotations. So, it’s a rigorous process where the physicality is coupled with the brain working nonstop. One needs to take this into consideration in the preparation for a concert. As musicians, we work all our lives to try to achieve that perfection, that balance between strength, brain, heart and passion. The main goal for a pianist is to always make the piano sing because it is a percussion instrument. Without listening to every note you produce, it’s hard to have the perfect understanding of what you play.  There are many factors to pay attention to and be ready for when you play an instrument, especially the piano. 

OS: You always look fabulous onstage. What goes into choosing your concert wear?

OK: I feel very lucky to have worked with the incredibly talented and famous NYC designer Alex Teih for more than 15 years. He designs all my concert gowns. I always choose my gowns right down to the colour, depending on which composer I am playing. If it is Rachmaninoff or Shostakovich, it is mostly red. If it is Beethoven, it’s black and gold. If it’s Chopin or other romantic composers, it’s blue or silver. I also work with the amazing New York-based jewellery designer, Alex Soldier. I pair my jewellery organically with my gowns. I think it’s important for artistes to respect the composers we are performing and look good onstage. 

OS: You run the Aspiration Foundation with your musician brother.

OK: I started the Aspiration Foundation a long time ago with my brother, Vladimir Kern. We aim to help young talent as much as we can with scholarships and other financial support. Our foundation is small, but we have helped many young musicians already—not just pianists, but other instrumentalists too. We will continue to do so for as long as we can. We also partner with bigger foundations and international competitions, including the Olga Kern International Piano Competition that takes place every three years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. The 4th edition of the competition will be in 2025. The competition just became a member of the prestigious World Federation of International Music Competitions.

OS: You have a son who also started playing the piano at an early age.

OS: My son, Vladislav Kern, is a very talented young pianist. He started when he was three years old and went on to study at Juilliard in NYC. At present, he is continuing his studies at the Manhattan School of Music. He has already won a few international competitions and wants to continue as a concert pianist. He loves to compose and improvise. When we perform together, it’s always very special for both of us. He is also a wonderful poet and his first book of poetry just got published.

OS: What can the audience expect at your recital at the NCPA in December?

OK: I have dedicated this recital to the great composer and pianist Rachmaninoff. Every one of the composers I will be playing are connected to Rachmaninoff in different ways. Rachmaninoff adored Beethoven as composer and pianist. I start the recital with an early composition of Beethoven, which is not very well-known—Variations on a theme by Salieri. Then, I continue with Schumann’s majestic Carnaval. I had heard a Rachmaninoff recording of this work for the very first time when I was little, which, in my opinion, is still one of the best interpretations of this piece and it’s also why I placed it next to Beethoven in the programme. I finish the first half of the recital with Gershwin; Rachmaninoff loved Gershwin and had heard him when he immigrated to USA. One can hear many elements of Gershwin’s music in late Rachmaninoff compositions. 

In the second half, I plan to start with three pieces from different periods of Rachmaninoff’s life—from the early opuses to mature ones. Then, I play Tchaikovsky’s beautiful Meditation, a rarely played but magical piece. Tchaikovsky was a mentor to all composers in Russia at the time, and he was a big influence on Rachmaninoff as well. I will play Scriabin and his two wonderful études. Scriabin was Rachmaninoff’s schoolmate, yet different in so many ways. His music is about the universe and cosmos. I finish with one of the most difficult pieces written for piano repertoire, Islamey by Balakirev. Rachmaninoff was inspired by The Five—a group of composers, including Balakirev, who were very famous when Rachmaninoff was growing up.

OS: You will also perform at a concert with the SOI Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jeroen Weierink.

OK: I am looking forward to working with Maestro Weierink and the SOI Chamber Orchestra. I have never worked with him before. The Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 is such an exciting piece to play; it’s full of irony and dark humour. Besides, there is an interesting trumpet solo written in the concerto with an interaction between the piano and trumpet which is always fun and exciting. This piece is a great example of the impeccable Shostakovich language and orchestration.

A piano recital by Olga Kern will be presented on 3rd December at the Tata Theatre. Kern will perform with the SOI Chamber Orchestra, with Jeroen Weierink at the podium, on 4th December at the Tata Theatre. The recital and the concert are presented by the NCPA & Mehli Mehta Music Foundation. The concert on the 4th is supported by the Consulate General of Finland, Mumbai. 

By Beverly Pereira. This piece was originally published by the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, in the December 2024 issue of ON Stage – their monthly arts magazine.