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Kevin Kenner (born May 19 1963 in Coronado, California) is an American concert pianist who has performed all over the world, both as a soloist and with well known orchestras.

Biography

At the age of 17, American pianist Kevin Kenner participated in the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and was awarded the 10th prize and a special prize from the jury for his promising talent. Ten years later, in 1990 he returned to Warsaw to win the top prize, the People's Prize and the Polonaise Prize. Earlier that year he won the bronze medal at the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow, together with a special prize for his interpretation of Russian music. Other awards include the International Terence Judd Award (London, 1990), the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (Fort Worth, 1989) and the Gina Bachauer International Competition (Salt Lake City, 1988).

Kevin Kenner has since performed as soloist with world-class orchestras including the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, The Czech Philharmonic, the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Brussels, the NHK Symphony of Japan, and in the US with the principal orchestras of San Francisco, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, New Jersey, Rochester, Baltimore, St. Paul and many others. He has been invited to work with many renowned conductors, including Sir Charles Groves, Andrew Davis, Hans Vonk, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Kazimierz Kord, Jiri Belohlavek and Antoni Wit.

His achievements have won him critical acclaim from all over the world. He has been praised as "one of the finest American pianists to come along in years" (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune), "...fulfilling a criterion which one only knows from great Chopinists such as Rubinstein, Benedetti-Michelangeli and Dinu Lipatti" (Winfried Wild, Schwaebische Zeitung, Germany). Adrian Jack of London's Independent describes one of Kenner's recitals as "...the best performance I have ever heard in the concert hall of all four of Chopin's Ballades". The Financial Times in London described Kenner as a "player of grace, subtle variety and strength, with a mature grasp of dramatic structure and proportion: in short, a grown-up musician nearing his peak." And the Washington Post recently proclaimed him "a major talent… an artist whose intellect, imagination and pianism speak powerfully and eloquently." The conductor Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who recorded with pianists such as Artur Rubinstein claimed Kenner's Chopin interpretations to be the most sensitive and beautiful he remembered.

He has performed chamber music with the Tokyo String Quartet, the Endellion String Quartet, the Vogler String Quartet and the Panocha Quartet among many others. Recently he has been touring with the Piazzoforte String Quintet performing arrangements of Astor Piazzolla. Along with his concert appearances, he has given masterclasses for many years at the International Piano Festival in Krynica, Poland as well as in major centres in Japan and America. More recently he has been giving classes at the International Summer Music Academy in Krakow, Poland. He has also been invited to adjudicate in international music competitions in Asia, Europe and the US. Since 2001 he has been engaged as a professor of piano at the Royal College of Music, London, and some of his students have gone on to win prizes in international piano competitions and sign contracts with major record labels.

Kevin Kenner’s recordings are distributed by Polish label “DUX” and include many discs of Chopin works as well as recordings of Ravel, Schumann and Piazzolla, the last of which was awarded a “Fryderyk” in Poland last year as best CD of the year under the category Chamber Music.

Recordings

Kevin has made numerous recordings, including those of Chopin's Ballades, Preludes, and both Piano Concertos with conductor Antoni Wit and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Poland. In 2007, he also released a recording of various works by French composer Maurice Ravel.

References

External links

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 His achievements have won him critical acclaim from all over the world. He has been praised as "one of the finest American pianists to come along in years" (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune), "...fulfilling a criterion which one only knows from great Chopinists such as Rubinstein, Benedetti-Michelangeli and [[Dinu Lipatti]]" (Winfried Wild, Schwaebische Zeitung, Germany).  [[Adrian Jack]] of London's Independent  describes one of Kenner's recitals as "...the best performance I have ever heard in the concert hall of all four of Chopin's Ballades".  The Financial Times in London described Kenner as a "player of grace, subtle variety and strength, with a mature grasp of dramatic structure and proportion: in short, a grown-up musician nearing his peak."  And the Washington Post recently proclaimed him "a major talent… an artist whose intellect, imagination and pianism speak powerfully and eloquently."  The conductor Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who recorded with pianists such as [[Artur Rubinstein]] claimed Kenner's Chopin interpretations to be the most sensitive and beautiful he remembered.
-He has performed chamber music with the Tokyo String Quartet, the Endellion String Quartet, the Vogler String Quartet and the Panocha Quartet among many others.  Recently he has been touring with the Piazzoforte String Quintet performing arrangements of [[Astor Piazzolla]].  Along with his concert appearances, he has given masterclasses for many years at the International Piano Festival in Krynica, Poland as well as in major centres in Japan and America.  More recently he has been giving classes at the International Summer Music Academy in Krakow, Poland.  He has also been invited to adjudicate in international music competitions in Asia, Europe and the US.  Since 2001 he has been engaged as a professor of piano at the Royal College of Music, London, and some of his students have gone on to win prizes in international piano competitions and sign contracts with major record labels.
+He has performed chamber music with the Tokyo String Quartet, the Endellion String Quartet, the Vogler String Quartet and the [[Panocha Quartet]] among many others.  Recently he has been touring with the Piazzoforte String Quintet performing arrangements of [[Astor Piazzolla]].  Along with his concert appearances, he has given masterclasses for many years at the International Piano Festival in Krynica, Poland as well as in major centres in Japan and America.  More recently he has been giving classes at the International Summer Music Academy in Krakow, Poland.  He has also been invited to adjudicate in international music competitions in Asia, Europe and the US.  Since 2001 he has been engaged as a professor of piano at the Royal College of Music, London, and some of his students have gone on to win prizes in international piano competitions and sign contracts with major record labels.
 Kevin Kenner’s recordings are distributed by Polish label “DUX” and include many discs of Chopin works as well as recordings of Ravel, Schumann and Piazzolla, the last of which was awarded a “Fryderyk” in Poland last year as best CD of the year under the category Chamber Music.