About Me
The works of composer John M. Kennedy have been performed at major festivals and venues throughout the US, Europe, Canada, Korea and Argentina. Recent premieres include the first performances of his “Symbia†series throughout Northern Europe. The 2007-2008 season will see the premieres of “Desde el Balcón†written for violist Hong Mei Xiao and baritone Nicholas Isherwood, and the completion of his duo concerto for the Vestfold Sinfonietta (Norway), featuring Roger Arve Vigulf, clarinet and Ole Böhn, concertmaster of the Norwegian State Opera Orchestra, violin. Recognition for his work includes the Charles Ives Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, grants from Meet the Composer, Inc., Young Composer and annual Standard Panel Awards from ASCAP since 1991, the American Composers Forum, Los Angeles and Creative Leave and Creative Activity Grants from California State University, Los Angeles. Other commissions include works for the Miller-Lowry Duo, the Baldwin-Wallace College Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Kalamazoo College and the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra. He is currently working on projects that involve real-time performance/improvisation via the Internet from participants in different regional locations.
After years as a self-taught Rock bassist, Kennedy began formal training at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying Jazz bass and arranging, and continued at the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, studying composition and double bass. After completing the B.Mus. in double bass performance he received a commission by the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra (1985) and was awarded First Prize in the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs Young Composer Contest. As a fellowship student in composition at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Kennedy studied with Leslie Bassett, William Albright, Fred Lerdahl and Eugene Kurtz.
An advocate for the music of our time, Kennedy is actively involved in the performance and dissemination of works of living composers. Leslie Bassett, Antoine Bonnet, William Kraft, Henry Brant, Chinary Ung and Kui Dong, have all worked with him as a conductor. As music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Players he has conducted works of Stravinsky and will perform “Gnarly Buttons†of John Adams next season. He has lectured for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, interviewing many composers including Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Christopher Rouse, Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Osvaldo Golijov and Esa Pekka Salonen. Since 1994 he has taught music composition and directed the New Music Ensemble at California State University, Los Angeles.
