Sean Kennard has won top prizes in the International Music Competition in Viña del Mar, Chile, the Vendome International Piano Competition in Portugal, the Sendai International Music Competition in Japan, the National Chopin Competition, the Iowa Piano Competition, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the American Pianists Association.
Mr. Kennard has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as Japan’s NHK Chamber Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra, the Sendai Philharmonic, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Royal de Chambre in Belgium, the German Chamber Orchestra of Frankfurt am Main, the Orchestre Philharmonique du Maroc, Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile, Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo, Sinfonia Perugina, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the orchestras of Charleston, Sioux City and Honolulu.
The Washington Post wrote of his “powerful and involved music making” and described him as “a strong luminous pianist.” American Record Guide said that he “plays Chopin’s preludes with more poise and vision than most pianists who have recorded them. He boasts a huge, romantic sound and a bold melodic vision.”
Mr. Kennard received a Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2004. In his final year at Curtis, he won their Sergei Rachmaninoff Award, given to one graduating pianist each year. Later he worked with Enrique Graf at the College of Charleston and received a Master of Music from the Juilliard School where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald. Currently he is in the studio of Richard Goode.
