Pianist Olga Kern performs with Colorado Music Festival

Olga Kern will never wear out her welcome at the Colorado Music Festival.

The Russian-born pianist and 2001 Van Cliburn International Competition gold medalist — one of classical music’s brightest superstars — makes her third straight appearance at the summer event to open the 2017 season at Chautauqua Auditorium. Kern will play two short Russian concertos on the opening night festival orchestra concert on Thursday and follows that with a solo recital on Saturday, July 1.

For CMF music director Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Kern’s connection with the audience was evident and natural at last season’s finale, which was the first time he had worked with her directly.

“In my first season (in 2015), she did a solo recital that drew as many people as our opening concert,” Zeitouni said. “It told me what an impact she has.” Then, he actually experienced her musicianship in last season’s finale. “I thought about some sort of residency for our 40th anniversary in 2017,” he said. It turned out the opening weekend was one of her few availabilities.

Kern played Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto to close the 2016 season. This time, Zeitouni wanted to do a program that exploited her connection with the Russian repertoire, harking back to her monumental 2013 complete Rachmaninoff concerto cycle with then-CMF director Michael Christie.

She will reprise Rachmaninoff’s last piano/orchestral work, the one-movement Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and will also play Sergei Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto of 1911, another short work of less than 20 minutes. Zeitouni, who has a “huge passion” for Russian orchestral music, makes the opening concert an all-Russian affair. It begins with Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture,” which opened the festival’s 10th anniversary season.

The orchestral anchor work is Rachmaninoff’s grand and passionate Second Symphony, which has never been played at the CMF. It will be paired with Kern’s performance of the composer’s “Rhapsody.” She plays the Prokofiev before intermission.

For Kern, playing at the CMF always feels like returning home.

“I’ve met so many wonderful people in Colorado who have become such close friends, and Boulder is a special place for me,” she said.

While she often pairs two concertos on a concert, this particular combination is new to her. “It will be interesting to see how these shorter works by these immortal Russian composers fit together,” she said. She noted that they are at opposite ends of their respective composer’s careers. “Rachmaninoff’s mature voice will contrast with Prokofiev’s youth and excitement.”

The intermission, she said, will give her time to make the mental and emotional shift.

As for her Saturday solo recital Kern said that it is a celebration of her two homes. Born in Russia, she obtained American citizenship last year. “My solo program features the great Russians Rachmaninoff, Balakirev and Scriabin, as well as the uniquely American genre of jazz with songs by Gershwin.”

She plays sets of pieces, all called Preludes, by Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Gershwin in addition to transcriptions of Gershwin’s songs “The Man I Love” and “Fascinating Rhythm” by Earl Wild. The recital closes with Balakirev’s fiendishly virtuosic piece “Islamey.”

The return of Giora

The CMF’s opening weekend comes to a nostalgic close with the return of festival founder Giora Bernstein on Sunday, July 2. As in his previous seasons, Zeitouni will be absent for the entire second week after conducting the opener. Bernstein’s appearance will be the first concert for the smaller chamber orchestra.

After Christie’s guest appearance last season, Zeitouni felt that it would be special for Bernstein — who led the festival for 24 years after starting it — to return. His only guest appearance during Christie’s tenure was a decade ago, in 2007.

Speaking from Austria, one of his current residences, Bernstein told said that he had received a “lovely letter” from Zeitouni, who asked if he could appear for the 40th anniversary.

“He said that the CMF is my baby,” Bernstein said. “I thought it was very elegant.”

Now 84, Bernstein does not conduct regularly anymore, although he is active as a violinist, splitting most of his time between Austria and Israel after living in Florida for several years.

“I consider the festival my life’s work,” Bernstein said. “I lived in Boulder during those 24 years, which was necessary for the formative time.” While he is happy that the CMF has basically retained the same format since he left in 2000, he noted it is natural that both Christie and Zeitouni put their own stamp on the festival aesthetic.

Bernstein’s chamber orchestra program opens and closes with late symphonies by Mozart. Zeitouni directed the great final trilogy last year, so Bernstein chose two of the immediately preceding ones. He will open with the “Haffner” Symphony (No. 35) and close with the “Prague” (No. 38). Between them, two baroque concertos feature CMF musicians as soloists.

Concertmaster Calin Lupanu and assistant concertmaster Joseph Meyer play J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins before intermission. Principal oboist Olav van Hezewijk will present Alessandro Marcello’s well-known oboe concerto following the break.