ROCKPORT – How do we challenge ourselves to aspire to our own highest standard and appreciate those whose achievements extend far beyond our own? What makes sports fans return year after year to witness the Michael Jordans and Tom Bradys? Though not recognized as our sports heroes are, the artistic heroes of our era deserve equal accolades.

Pianist Olga Kern is one such hero having taken a gold medal at the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition – also being the first woman to have achieved this distinction in more than 30 years.

Kern’s Feb. 26 concert, as part of the Rockport Bay Chamber Concerts’ 30th Performing Arts Series, was a phenomenal offering. Held in the Rockport Opera House, she played a program of hefty stature, including the tremendously challenging Brahms’ Handel Variations, the Chopin F Minor Fantasy and Liszt’s Reminiscences of Don Juan.

Kern, adorned in a blazing gown, opened the program with Rachmaninoff’s joyful piano transcription of Bach’s well-known Violin Partita No. 3. Her immediate clear delivery of complex textures and contrapuntal display conveyed Rachmaninoff’s signature intricacies. Her own humorous defiance teased the audience, suggesting this was the mere appetizer to a sumptuous feast.

Indeed, the main course offerings included everything from intimate, coloristic moments to explosive fireworks of powerhouse proportions. Brahms’ Op. 24 Variations and Fugue, based on a theme by Handel, consists of 25 variations written in 1861 for his close pianist friend, Clara Schumann, who was one of the most sought-after pianists of her day. This collection defies all technical boundaries, which Kern effortlessly unraveled through her quick into-the-keys approach. She looked so at home at the piano with her frequent glance towards stage left and a tendency to bring the audience into her own world. Her approach to the massive concluding fugue felt as if she were stating, “This is my version. … Take it and love it!”

Kern comes from a long line of Russian musicians whose great grandmother even sang with Sergei Rachmaninoff. While the school of Russian playing is known for its facile, adroit technique, one drawback of a hammering Russian facility proves detrimental to a piano – no matter how sturdy the instrument.

Throughout the Brahms Variations the tuning, already unstable at the opening of the concert, progressively worsened especially in the upper treble range, contributing to the discordance of a somber opening of the Chopin Fantasy in F Minor, Opus 49. Nonetheless, Kern’s robust sound brought forth intensity and clarity particularly in the significant shifts of major to minor sonorities. Compared to the whirlwind tempos of the Brahms Variations, Kern allowed more time for the music to resonate throughout most of the Fantasy until the final piu mosso statement of the march theme, which lost its majestic nature due to an inflated tempo.

Bombast has its place in much piano literature – perhaps even too much this particular evening which ended with an extremely bravura performance (is that even possible?) of Liszt’s Reminiscences of Don Juan. Audience members recognized the two Mozart opera themes, played dazzlingly and theatrically with complete honesty. Kern never feigned emotion; she became the emotion through her music. Her generosity of spirit never waned despite the demands of this virtuosic program; even her three encores of Mussorgsky, Lisberg and Prokofiev called forth her unrelenting strength and power. This was an amazing Olympic feat; we owe it to ourselves to partake of such significant events.

Bay Chamber Concerts’ next concert, featuring Chatham Baroque and Chris Norman, is at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 14 at the Rockport Opera House. For more information, call 236-2823 or visit www.baychamberconcerts.org. Patricia Stowell can be reached at Stowell@adelphia.net.