Olga Vladimirovna Pushechnikova, also known as Olga Vladimirovna Kern, born in Moscow on April 23, 1975, is a Russian and American classical pianist. She began piano studies at five, gave her first concert at seven, and won the Concertino Praga Competition at eleven and the first Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at seventeen. After postgraduate studies at the Moscow Conservatory and the Accademia Pianistica Incontri col Maestro, she adopted the surname Kern for her international career. She gained prominence as the first woman in over thirty years to receive the gold medal at the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001. In 2012, she released the album Rachmaninov's Sonata for Cello and Piano, and in 2016 she founded the Olga Kern International Piano Competition, launching a three‑year cycle in Albuquerque that awarded a professional recording on the Steinway & Sons Label and tours throughout Europe and the United States.
