Kevin Kenner

The year 1990 was a milestone for pianist Kevin Kenner, whose artistry was recognized throughout the world by three prestigious awards: the top prize at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the International Terence Judd Award in London, and third prize at the Tchaikovsky Inter- national Competition in Moscow. He had already won awards at the Van Cliburn International Competition and the Gina Bachauer International Competition. Born in southern California, Kenner first studied with pianist Krzysztof Brzuza and later in Poland with Ludwik Stefaƒski. He continued his studies for the next five years with Leon Fleisher. Kenner concluded his formal training in Hannover with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and made his permanent home in Europe. He taught for many years at the Royal College of Music in London and in 2015 accepted a professorship in the United States, at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami. Apart from his work as a teacher, he has served on juries of some of the most celebrated international piano competitions.
Kenner has performed as soloist with world-class orchestras including the Hallé, BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Warsaw Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Belgium, Orchestra of the 18th Century, NHK Symphony of Japan, San Francisco Symphony, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors such as the late Sir Charles Groves, Andrew Davis, Hans Vonk, Jirˇí Beˇlohlávek, Jahja Ling, Jacek Kaspszyk, Stanis∏aw Skrowaczewski, Antoni Wit and Jerzy Maksymiuk. He has worked with string quartets such as the Belcea, Tokyo, Endellion, Vogler, Casal and Panocha, and worked as duo partner with cellist Matt Haimovitz, and since 2011 with Kyung Wha Chung. He is a frequent guest at the Pyeong Chang Music Festival in Korea and the ‘Chopin and his Europe’ Festival in Poland. Kevin Kenner’s recordings are distributed internationally and include many discs of Chopin works (among those a recital on period piano, released in the Real Chopin series by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute) as well as recordings of Ravel, Schumann, Beethoven, Piazzolla and Paderewski, the latter two having won special prizes. His CD Chopin Resonances was singled out by Gramophone magazine as one of the top 50 Chopin discs ever recorded.