An Interview with Pianist Olga Kern

 

After two stunning local performances, courtesy of the Carolinas Concert Association, Russian pianist Olga Kern returns to town to open the Charlotte Symphony’s 2007-08 season. Winner of the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (the first female winner in more than thirty years), Kern will play Rachmaninov’s blockbuster Piano Concerto No. 2, under the direction of Charlotte Symphony Resident Conductor Alan Yamamoto. Kern spoke with the Charlotte Symphony over the summer.

 

When you play with the Charlotte Symphony in September, it will be your third trip to Charlotte in less than two years. What are your impressions of the city?

 

It’s actually a very beautiful place. It’s a new downtown – nice and clean and modern. I like it very much.

 

The last time you were here, in March, you toured with the National Philharmonic of Russia. Are there many differences between playing with an American orchestra and a Russian orchestra?

 

I don’t think so. I always enjoy working with every orchestra. Each conductor has an interesting interpretation, their own vision of a particular piece. They always say something new. I’m very open-minded and I like to hear different opinions.

 

You’ve probably played the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto with dozens of orchestras. Do you know how many?

 

I can’t even tell you. It’s too many! I started to perform this concerto when I was young – I was 14, I think, maybe even younger – and I traveled all over the Soviet Union.

 

You certainly play Rachmaninov frequently. Are there other Russian composers that you enjoy and in particular, contemporary composers?

 

I do both (Dmitri) Shostokovich concertos very often. The (Alexander) Scriabin concerto – not so much, unfortunately. The Tchaikovsky all the time. For contemporary composers, there’s Sofia Gubaidulina, who is incredible. I played her Chaconne, which is an incredible piece.

 

Have political changes in Russia over the past fifteen years had a big impact on musicians?

 

Of course, everything has changed. Everything is more free. For example, when I was little, I could not go anywhere else besides the Soviet Union. I had to have special permission to go to auditions in France or Germany. And it was always very exciting to go anywhere because in Moscow we had no food or anything. I remember the first time I saw bananas in a store in Japan. My brother was with me. He was a trumpeter. Now he’s a conductor. We never had such a thing in Moscow, so we bought about ten kilos and ate them all, and then had a lot of trouble!

My son, who is nine, lives in a completely different Russia.

 

How is classical music faring in Russia? Do many people attend concerts?

 

Oh, yeah. And a lot of young people, too. There was always a big interest in concerts in Russia, and there still is. And the government is supporting as much as possible. Putin, our president, is helping orchestras financially.

 

Is your son musical?

 

He’s decided to be a pianist. He’s been playing the piano since he was three. I’ve sent him to school in Moscow (Moscow Conservatory) just to get the discipline. It’s still one of the strongest schools in the world.

A Conversation with Jennifer Higdon

Philadelphia-based composer Jennifer Higdon completed blue cathedral in 2000, just two years after her younger brother, Andrew Blue, died suddenly of cancer. Since its premiere, the 12-minute orchestral tone poem has been performed more than 100 times. The Charlotte Symphony will perform blue cathedral as part of its Classics season opener on September 28 and 29.

Higdon spoke with the Charlotte Symphony  in May about the music and its healing power in her life.

In September, blue cathedral will be performed by six different American orchestras. Why do think it’s so popular?

It is kind of amazing. It’s moving across the orchestral landscape. I’m probably the person most startled by its success. I think the piece appeals to people on different levels. Some people identify with the story behind the piece, and some people just like the way it sounds. It’s tonal; there’s melody.

You were commissioned to write blue cathedral for the Curtis Institute’s 75th anniversary, but it became a response to your brother’s death and an approach to the major questions of life. Did you have those questions and answers before you started to compose, or did you develop an understanding as you wrote?

I’ve found that composers never ever have a clear idea when they start out what they’re expressing. You don’t know what issue you are grappling with until you start working on a piece. It’s in the process. This piece was therapy for me. I started writing it a year after my brother died, and it addressed whether life was going to be about living or be about death. At the big brass fanfare, I decided it was going to be about living.

At the end of the piece, I had to let go of my brother. Writing that ending was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But, boy, was it therapeutic!

How long did you work on blue cathedral?

I probably wrote this piece over four months or so. When I was writing blue cathedral, I was just writing that one piece. It takes a lot of concentration, a lot of energy, and a lot of time. It can take days and days to write a few seconds of music.

The score calls for some fascinating percussion, such as eight crystal glasses of water and Chinese Health Balls. How did you arrive at the instrumentation?

The water glasses have a pure, heavenly sound, so I knew I wanted those right away. The little reflex balls – they make this beautiful tinkling sound – like floating up into the stars. I was looking for that sound in my head, but it was like chasing a shadow. Then I think I bumped into a nightstand that had a box of reflex balls on it. When I heard that sound, I said, “That’s it!”

What are you working on now? 

I am working on two concertos for the Philadelphia Orchestra – a violin concerto that has a choral part to it, and a bluegrass concerto. Both are supposed to premiere in January of 2008, within a week of each other.