The Lawrence University Artist Series will continue March 9 with pianist Olga Kern. The concert will take place at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Tickets are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, located in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., or by phone at 920-832-6749, and range from $15 for students to $22 for adults.
Kern’s career began in 2001 when she was awarded the gold medal at the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition — the first woman to have achieved this distinction in more than 30 years. Since that time she has been captivating fans and critics alike with her passionately confident musicianship and vivid stage presence.
In 2004, Kern made her New York City recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s new venue, Zankel Hall. Eleven days later, she returned to New York to play again, this time on the stage of the Isaac Stern Auditorium at the invitation of Carnegie Hall.
Kern’s orchestral engagements include performances with the Delaware, Houston, Fort Worth, Youngstown, and Mobile Symphony Orchestras. Kern has given recital performances at the Kennedy Center Honors with Reneé Fleming, and in Atlanta, Boulder, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Portland, and San Juan. Internationally Kern has toured throughout Europe and Russia, and made an extensive tour of South Africa in 2002, where she returned to tour again in 2005.
She will be making her debut with the Taipei Symphony in June 2006; her debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in Spring 2006; and in 2006-07, Kern will tour the United States with the National Philharmonic of Russia, under the director of Vladimir Spivakov.
Kern has performed in many of the world’s most important venues, including the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Salzburger Festspielhaus, La Scala in Milan, Tonhalle in Zurich, and the Châtelet in Paris.
Kern, a Yamaha artist, records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi. Her releases include the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Seaman, a Rachmaninov recording of Corelli Variations and other transcriptions, and her newest recording, which was released in 2005, contains works by Rachmaninov and Balakirev. She was also featured in the award-winning documentary about the 2001 Cliburn Competition, “Playing on the Edge.”
For additional information on this and other “Performing Arts at Lawrence” series concerts, please visit www.lawrence.edu/news/performingartsseries.
