University of Florida Performing Arts

To see Olga Kern perform on You Tube, click here.

Program
Sonata in A Major, K 24 – Scarlatti
Sonata in D Minor, K 9 – Scarlatti
Sonata in C Major, K 159 – Scarlatti
Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58 – Chopin
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 36 – Rachmaninoff
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp Minor – Liszt

To read the program notes,  click here.

About Olga Kern

Ms. Kern was born into a family of musicians with direct links to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.  With such a musical pedigree it’s no wonder that Ms. Kern became the first woman in more than 30 years to win the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001 with her performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.  Her second triumph came in New York City on May 4, 2004, with a highly acclaimed New York City recital debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall.  Eleven days later, on May 12, 2004, in an unprecedented turn of events,  Olga Kern gave a recital in Isaac Stern Auditorium at the invitation of Carnegie Hall.

After a critically acclaimed 35 city tour of the United States in spring, 2007 with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Spivakov, including a stop at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Ms. Kern opened the 2007-08 season as guest soloist with the Colorado Symphony, which was followed by appearances with the Nashville Symphony and her debut with the Vancouver Symphony. In May of 2008 Olga Kern will tour North America with Maestro Vladimir Spivakov and the world renowned Moscow Virtuosi, presenting concerts in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Toronto.

A winner of the first Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition when she was 17, Ms. Kern is a laureate of 11 international competitions.  She has toured throughout her native Russia, Europe, and the United States, as well as in Japan, South Africa, and South Korea.  The recipient of an honorary scholarship from the President of Russia in 1996, she is a member of Russia’s International Academy of Arts. She began her formal training with acclaimed teacher Evgeny Timakin at the Moscow Central School and continued with Professor Sergei Dorensky at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she was also a postgraduate student.  She also studied with Boris Petrushansky at the acclaimed Accademia Pianistica Incontri col Maestro in Imola, Italy. 

Ms. Kern records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi. Her most recent recording of Brahms’ Variations will be released in September of 2007. Her discography includes recordings of the  Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Seaman (2003), a Rachmaninoff recording of Corelli Variations and other transcriptions (2004), a recital disk with works by Rachmaninoff and Balakirev (2005) and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Antoni Wit (2006). She was also featured in the award-winning documentary about the 2001 Cliburn Competition, Playing on the Edge.