Sean Kennard - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Early years

Sean Kennard was born in San Diego, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

to an American father and Japanese mother. He grew up in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

and his family moved to Philadelphia when he began studying at the Curtis Institute of Music

Curtis Institute of Music

The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...

, at age 13.

Kennard began lessons at the Ellen Masaki School of Music on his tenth birthday, 3 October 1994 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and began studies with Ellen Masaki on 5 January 1995. In the summer of that year he gave his first public solo performance in Honolulu. He performed in Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

on 18 May 1996 as part of the Hawaii Music Awards, and travelled back to Honolulu the next day to place first in the final round of the International Chopin Competition of the Pacific. He performed recitals in Poland in 1997 at the Fryderyk Chopin Society of Warsaw and Żelazowa Wola

Zelazowa Wola

Żelazowa Wola is a village in Gmina Sochaczew, Sochaczew County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies on the Utrata River, some northeast of Sochaczew and west of Warsaw. Żelazowa Wola has a population of 65....

(Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

's birthplace). On 3 October 1997, the third anniversary of beginning piano studies, he performed a recital of Chopin's Études Op. 10 and 25 at the Academy of Arts in Honolulu.

Education

Kennard received his bachelor of music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music

Curtis Institute of Music

in 2004. He began studies at Curtis with Eleanor Sokoloff

Eleanor Sokoloff

Eleanor Sokoloff is an American pianist and famous pedagogue of piano. She is now in her eighth decade of teaching on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music....

in 1998, and was the first student from the state of Hawaii ever to be accepted to the institution. In his final year, he was awarded the piano department's Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...

Award, given to one graduating pianist each year. During his time at Curtis, he won 2nd prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition

Hilton Head International Piano Competition

The Hilton Head International Piano Competition is an annual piano competition held since 1996 at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina's First Presbyterian Church.-Selected list of jurors:...

. Immediately after graduating, he competed in the Sendai International Music Competition

Sendai International Music Competition

The Sendai International Music Competition is a violin and piano music competition held in Sendai, Japan, presented in association with the Sendai International Music Competition Organizing Committee, City of Sendai and the Sendai Cultural Foundation...

, and was the first American and contestant outside of Asia and Europe to win a prize in the competition. He went on from Curtis to study with Enrique Graf

Enrique Graf

Enrique Graf was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and is now an American citizen.After winning all of the national competitions in Uruguay, he went to the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University to study with Leon Fleisher on a full scholarship from Peabody and the Organization of American...

at the College of Charleston

College of Charleston

The College of Charleston is a public, sea-grant and space-grant university located in historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina, United States...

in their Artist Certificate program in Fall of 2004.

Past and future appearances

After beginning studies with Graf, Kennard won various other prizes in piano competitions, including the National Chopin Competition

Chopin Foundation of the United States

Founded by Lady Blanka Rosenstiel in 1977, the Chopin Foundation of the United States provides performance opportunities for young American pianists, exchange and scholarship programs as well as awards....

, Iowa Piano Competition, and Dr. Luis Sigall Music Competition. He was one of four finalists from the 2005 National Chopin Competition featured in the documentary "Pianists," relating the story of the American pianists as they travelled to Poland to participate in the 2005 International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition

International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition

The International Chopin Piano Competition , often referred to as the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition held in Warsaw, Poland to honour the name of Frédéric Chopin. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious music competitions in the world...

.

Kennard has appeared as soloist with various orchestras around the world, including the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Kammerorchester, Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo, Orquesta Filarmónica Regional, Sinfonia Perugina, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Concepción, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony Orchestra

Honolulu Symphony

The Honolulu Symphony, also known as the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, was founded in 1900. The Honolulu Symphony is the oldest symphony orchestra in the USA west of the Rocky Mountains. Originally housed in a clubhouse on the slopes of Punchbowl, the Honolulu Symphony now plays from the Neal S...

, Sioux City Symphony Orchestra

Sioux City Symphony Orchestra

The Sioux City Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Sioux City, Iowa. Its home is the Orpheum Theater.-History:The Sioux City Symphony Orchestra and The Sioux City Municipal Band were each formed in the early 1930s under the guidance and direction of Leo Kucinski...

, Hilton Head Orchestra, and Florida International University Orchestra. In April 2009 he will give his debut recital at the Tokyo Opera City Recital Hall and perform Chopin's two piano concertos with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra

Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra

The is a Japanese symphony orchestra administratively based in Tokyo. The orchestra primarily performs concerts in Tokyo at the Suntory Hall, but also gives concerts at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall...

and Yamagata Symphony Orchestra. He is currently represented in Japan by Nippon Artists Management Inc.

Recognition

Patrick Rucker of the Washington Post said of his performance of Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

's Sonata Op. 57 "Appassionata"

Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 is a piano sonata. It is considered one of the three great piano sonatas of his middle period . It was composed during 1804 and 1805, and perhaps 1806, and was dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick...

that he played with "powerful and involved musicmaking"
Ruth Bingham of the Honolulu Advertiser
Honolulu Advertiser
The Honolulu Advertiser was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Internet editions...

said of his last-minute substitution for Van Cliburn Competition

Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was first held in 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas and is hosted by Van Cliburn Foundation. It was created by Fort Worth area teachers in honor of Van Cliburn, who had won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition four years prior with Tchaikovsky's...

silver medalist Joyce Yang, playing the Grieg concerto with the Honolulu Symphony, that he displayed "a special affinity for quietly lyrical passages"

Awards

2003, Hilton Head International Piano Competition
Hilton Head International Piano Competition
The Hilton Head International Piano Competition is an annual piano competition held since 1996 at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina's First Presbyterian Church.-Selected list of jurors:...

, 2nd prize
2004, Sendai International Music Competition
Sendai International Music Competition
The Sendai International Music Competition is a violin and piano music competition held in Sendai, Japan, presented in association with the Sendai International Music Competition Organizing Committee, City of Sendai and the Sendai Cultural Foundation...

, 5th prize
2004, Curtis Institute of Music Sergei Rachmaninoff Award
2005, National Chopin Competition
Chopin Foundation of the United States
Founded by Lady Blanka Rosenstiel in 1977, the Chopin Foundation of the United States provides performance opportunities for young American pianists, exchange and scholarship programs as well as awards....

, 3rd prize
2006, Iowa Piano Competition, 2nd prize
2007, Dr. Luis Sigall International Music Competition, 1st prize (member of World Federation of International Music Competitions
World Federation of International Music Competitions
The World Federation of International Music Competitions is an organization based in Geneva, Switzerland that maintains a network of the internationally recognized organisations that aim to discover the most promising young talents in classical music through public competition...

)

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