Get to Know Kevin Kenner, Jury Chair
Pianist Kevin Kenner. Photo credit: Christian Steiner
At the Chopin Foundation, our mission is twofold: to assist young, talented American pianists in their career development and in so doing, open doors to international careers; and to make classical music, especially the music of Frederic Chopin, accessible to everyone.
A large part of accomplishing the mission is having a dynamic, diverse, and dedicated Jury for the National Chopin Piano Competition. We are thrilled to have renowned American pianist, Kevin Kenner serve as our Jury Chair for the 2020 competition in Miami.
We sat down with Kevin to ask him about his history with the Chopin Foundation, the highlights of his career so far, and the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition where he serves as Jury Chair.
He’s been a part of our community since 1990 when he won second prize at the National Competition and has been a champion of our work ever since.
Share a little bit of your background with the Chopin Foundation for those who might not be familiar.
In February of 1990, I participated in the National Chopin Competition in Miami, and won the second prize at that time. Then I went to Warsaw to represent the United States at the International Chopin Competition the following October. And it was there that I won the competition. Ever since then, the Chopin Foundation has been greatly involved in my career.
Tell us about some of the highlights of your career. Aside from Warsaw, where else did you travel?
In 1990, when I first connected with the Chopin Foundation, I was already living in Europe — studying in Germany — and I stayed in Europe for 26 years. I got married and had a family in England, and I stayed there for nearly 19 years. Later I lived in Poland, and then in 2015, I moved back to Miami. And in fact, this is a great story.
When the Foundation organized their competitions, instead of putting the competitors up in hotels, they arranged for us to stay with host families. Often, those host families and the competitors become friends. I stayed with Marvin and Isabel Leibowitz during my competition, and we developed a very close relationship that lasted for many years until his death just last year.
It was really because of that relationship that I had with the Leibowitz family that when I considered moving back to the U.S., I chose Miami as my home. I had no reason to move to Miami for any other reason. It was Marvin who told me about a job opening at the university, which I then applied for. And I'm now happily living in Miami and working full time at the Frost School of Music of the University of Miami.
Because you’re based in Miami, you’re able to be very involved with the Chopin Foundation. Will you share a little more about what you’re working on?
In 2018, I organized the Frost Chopin Academy, an educational event during the summer for young pianists who want to immerse themselves in the music of Chopin. I spoke to the Chopin Foundation and my university about a collaborative effort to realize this, and to bring some of the top Chopin specialists from all over the world to come and teach for this a brief but very intense course.
For anyone who may not know, the Chopin Foundation gives out $1,000 scholarships to a number of talented young American pianists every year. My academy automatically enrolls these scholarship recipients from the Chopin Foundation in our program.
In a way, this is an extension of the mission of the Foundation, because one of its prime goals is to educate young American pianists in the music of Chopin, and prepare them for the national and the international Chopin competitions. Because of the Foundation’s support, I was able to create this program, and hopefully it's helping to accomplish our shared goals.
You have a longstanding relationship with the Chopin Foundation and you’re our jury chair for the 2020 competition. Tell us what that means to you.
The most significant thing that I could say about the Foundation, is about the help it's offering young musicians. Many years ago, I was one of those musicians and feel very grateful. At that time, they didn't have an academy where I could work with specialists, but they had the competition, and the Foundation has supported me throughout my career.
The competition now offers a $100,000 prize, which is incredible. In my day, it was nothing like that. It was basically just the prestige of winning the competition and being invited to Warsaw to the international competition, but it's really developed into something more significant now.
I don't think that I could have developed the career that I have now and made my particular contributions to the music world had it not been for the Chopin Competition, as well as the support of the Chopin Foundation. I think the Foundation is providing a valuable service to our culture, and I have a great desire to contribute in some small way to helping it achieve its goals, whether as an artistic advisor or as competition juror.
Read about our other jury members for the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition.