The last time we saw Olga Kern on a Tucson stage she was giving her all to Rachmaninoff's technically powerful Second Piano Concerto.
She returns to that same stage at Centennial Hall on Saturday to perform another Rach 2, this one the Rachmaninoff Second Piano Sonata, in a recital that also includes works by Brahms, Haydn and Liszt.
"The whole program, I just love these pieces. It is one of my favorite recital programs," the single mother of an 11-year-old son said during a phone interview in February from New York.
Saturday's concert marks Kern's third Tucson appearance since winning the gold medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and embarking on a successful career. After each of those concerts - her first was with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in 2003 - Kern set up a table in the concert hall lobbies and greeted fans, signing autographs and chatting with each person who stood in line.
"It's so important. I like to see the audience. I like to see their reactions, their feelings. It's so important," she explained in nearly perfect Russian-accented English. "My public - I love my public."
During our phone call, Kern, 34, talked about her fast-rising career, her love for Rachmaninoff and her new concert collaboration with the legendary soprano Kathleen Battle that the pair premiered at Carnegie Hall in early February and took to Costa Mesa, Calif., a couple weeks later.
Rocking to the Rach: "The Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2 is such a special piece for me because I did this piece in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (in 2001). Before that I played it many times since I was 17 years old. This piece has been with me through so many different phases of my life. It's transformed with me and I just absolutely adore this piece. This music is so beautiful. The feelings in it. … It is a very special piece.
"I know exactly what I'm doing with it. I just can't wait to share this piece with the Tucson audience."
Life since the Van Cliburn: "It's incredible. … What I've did since Van Cliburn, I have achieved a lot already. I am happy where I am right now. I love what I'm doing. I'm just so happy that my parents are proud of me and I can already say I did something important with my life. And my son is proud of me. This is the best possible thing you can wish for."
Like mother, like son: (Her son, 11, who has been studying piano since he was 3, has been performing in the U.S. and Russia.) "He's quite good, I must say. He plays a lot of concerts in Russia and abroad. Last year in July, he was performing at the Lincoln Center at the Alice Tully Hall. It was very exciting. … I took him to Disney World afterwards."
Rachmaninoff with vocals, her work with Battle: "It's pretty exciting. We are rehearsing quite a lot these days. It's going to be a wonderful concert. If it (is) as beautiful as we think, then we will have the possibility to play in many places because people are waiting for us already. We just don't want to say anything yet because we don't know how we will like it."
If you go
Olga Kern in concert.
• When: 8 p.m. Saturday; rescheduled from Feb. 13, when Kern bowed out due to illness.
• Where: Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd.
• Tickets: $29-$52 with discounts available; student prices start at $15.
• Program:
Haydn's Piano Sonata in C major.
Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Paganini.
Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor
Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody"
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@azstarnet.com or 573-4642.
