“His recital revealed an artist whose intellect, imagination and pianism speak powerfully and eloquently.” – Washington Post 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 Terrence Judd Award in London, and third prize at the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow. He had already won awards at the Van Cliburn International Competition and the Gina Bachauer International Competition. Kevin Kenner’s achievements have won him critical acclaim throughout the world. He has been praised as "one of the finest American pianists to come along in years" (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune). Adrian Jack of the Independent described 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 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 proclaimed him "a major talent… an artist whose intellect, imagination and pianism speak powerfully and eloquently." Conductor Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, who frequently performed and recording with the late Artur Rubinstein, described his collaborations with Kevin Kenner to be the most sensitive and beautiful he remembered. Born in southern California, Kenner showed his interest in piano from a very young age and studied there with Polish pianist Krzysztof Brzuza. As a teenager, Brzuza sent him to Poland to audition for the eminent professor Ludwik Stefanski, who immediately prepared him for the 1980 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he was the youngest competitor and in which he received a special award from the jury. Following the death of his Polish teacher, he continued his studies for the next five years with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. As a student he benefited much from his years at the Tanglewood Music Festival where he had the occasion to work with Leonard Bernstein. Returning to Europe once again, Kenner concluded his formal training in Hannover with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. Following his studies, Kenner made his home for many years in Europe, at first in England, where he taught at the Royal College of Music in London, then in Krakow. Since 2015 he has been teaching at University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. His students have successfully carved out careers as performers, recording artists and pedagogues, and have been recipients of major prizes of international piano competitions. Apart from his pedagogical activities, he has been invited to serve on the juries of some of the most celebrated international piano competitions including among others the Chopin and the Busoni Competitions. Kenner has also gained a reputation as a superlative performer on period instruments and has performed and recorded concertos on early instruments together with the Orchestra of the 18th Century directed by the late Frans Bruggen. His recording of Chopin’s works on an 1849 Pleyel also earned him praise from the French classical music magazine Diapason. His recent solo recording of Paderewski piano works on Paderewski’s own piano was listed as Gramophone’s CD of the month. Other recordings have included numerous discs of Chopin’s works as well as works of Ravel, Schumann, Beethoven, Piazzolla and Paderewski, the latter two having won the prize for best recording of the year from the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry in 2006 and 2012. His “Chopin Resonances” recording was singled out by Gramophone magazine as the Editor’s Choice and was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards in France. And Polish National Radio recognized him in 2015 for the best recording of Chopin’s Ballades. He has joined with string quartets such as the Escher, Belcea, Mosaiques, Apollon Musagete, Tokyo, Endellion and Vogler, and also worked as duo partner with cellist Matt Haimovitz. Since 2011 he has concertized and recorded with violinist Kyung-Wha Chung. He has performed chamber music at the Pyeong Chang Music Festival in Korea, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland and the “Chopin and His Europe” Festival in Poland.