User:Nina07011960/sandbox/Nina Gamble Kennedy

Nina Gamble Kennedy (born July 1, 1960) is an American classical pianist, orchestral conductor, filmmaker, and writer. She is the daughter of Matthew W. Kennedy, concert pianist and director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers from 1957 to 1986; and Anne Gamble Kennedy, also a concert pianist and piano accompanist for the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Both of her parents served as members of the piano faculty at Fisk University. Early life Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Kennedy received her first musical instruction from her parents. She was enrolled in formal piano classes at the Blair Academy of Music in 1968, first with William Higgs, and later with Enid Katahn who would be her primary piano teacher until 1978. She was presented in her first complete piano recital at nine years old. In 1974 she was engaged by conductor Thor Johnson to appear as piano soloist with the Nashville Symphony in a performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in Nashville’s Centennial Park. She received a standing ovation from an audience of over 4,000. Kennedy graduated from McGavock High School in 1978. That year she was one of three piano students out of a field of 72 pianists who auditioned, accepted for study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she studied with Eleanor Sokoloff. At the time, famed African-American pianist Natalie Hinderas was on the piano faculty at Temple University. Kennedy began to study with her in 1979, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Temple in 1982 cum laude. From 1979 to 1982, Kennedy served on the piano faculty at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia. She also taught several private piano students. She continued to teach privately after her arrival in New York. After her graduation from Temple, Kennedy was accepted for study in the Master’s Program at The Juilliard School in New York City, where she majored in piano performance and orchestral conducting. Her second year at Juilliard she was awarded the prestigious William Petschek Scholarship. While at Juilliard she studied with William Masselos and Herbert Stessin. Throughout her studies, Kennedy had performed and participated in master classes conducted by Andre Watts, Gaby Casadesus, Leon Fleisher, and Leonard Bernstein at Juilliard. She completed the coursework toward the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Constance Keene. In 1985 she was the winner of the National Endowment of the Arts Solo Recitalist Fellowship. Career On April 5, 1987, the John Work III Memorial Foundation presented Kennedy in her New York Debut Recital in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, for which she received several standing ovations and was called back for encores. About this performance, John Rockwell of the New York Times wrote: “We commonly hear complaints these days about young performers lacking in personality. No such charge could be leveled against Nina Kennedy, a fine pianist who made her debut last Sunday evening in Alice Tully Hall. Her playing on Sunday was distinguished by its poetic thoughtfulness. Unlike so many of her generation, determined to assert their virtuosity even at the expense of the music, Miss Kennedy shaped her program with loving care. This was apparent from her very first selection, the Scarlatti Sonata in E (K. 380), which sounded sensuous and piquant rather than merely brisk and efficient. She continued in this vein through three more Scarlatti sonatas, the Beethoven Tempest Sonata, the Chopin Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise and the entire second half of her program. Miss Kennedy concluded her program with her own synthesis of the early and late versions of Rachmaninoff's Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor (Op. 36), based on Vladimir Horowitz's edition. No Rachmaninoff fan, this writer is not prepared to pronounce upon the differences in these versions. But again, Miss Kennedy's playing sounded committed and persuasive.” After Kennedy’s New York Debut, she embarked on her second European tour which included concerts in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Brussels, and Amsterdam at the Concertgebouw, for which she received several standing ovations and was reviewed by famed music critic Jan van Voorthuysen for Het Vaderland. Kennedy’s television and radio broadcasts include a recital for the BBC in London, performances of the Beethoven Second Piano Concerto with the Jackson (Mississippi) Symphony for NET (1976), and the Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto with the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra recorded live for broadcast on National Public Radio (1981). During her first European tour, she was invited to appear in recital at the American Embassy in Paris. She has appeared as guest soloist in the opening night concert for the Jeunesse Musicalisches Festival at Vienna’s Musikverein, and as piano soloist with the Chicago Sinfonietta under conductor Paul Freeman at the Konzerthaus in Vienna. In Europe she performed and resided in Vienna (1997- 2001), Cologne (2001-2003), and Paris (2003 - 2007). Kennedy served as conducting apprentice with the New York Philharmonic from 1992 to 1995, and L’Orchestre National de France from 2003 to 2007, under Maestro Kurt Masur. Kennedy is the subject of a mini-documentary titled Portrait: An American Concert Pianist, produced for broadcast on PBS. In 2006, she directed and produced a feature-length documentary film about her father titled Matthew Kennedy: One Man’s Journey, which won the prize for Best Film by a Black Filmmaker at the 2007 Nashville Film Festival (NaFF). Since 2016, Kennedy and her partner April Gibson have been hosting an Artists’ Salon in New York City (aprilandninasalon.com). The first public Salon was presented at Dixon Place in 2017, and was broadcast on Manhattan Neighborhood Network Television. She is the host of The Noshing with Nina Show, also broadcast on MNN, BRIC (Brooklyn Information and Culture Network), and Bronx Network. Recordings Etude in c-sharp minor, Op. 25 No. 7 by Frédéric Chopin, Abbey Road Studios, London, 1993 Mazurka in a minor, Op. 17 No. 4 by Frédéric Chopin, 1993 Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, 1993 Prelude in g-sharp minor, Op. 32 No. 12 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1993 Sonata No.2 in b-flat minor (1913 edition) by Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1993 Valses Nobles et Sentimentales by Maurice Ravel, 1993 Writings “How Long? Not Long!” (2018), April and Nina’s Salon Newsletter “Keep Silent in Church?” (2018), April and Nina’s Salon Newsletter “Tosca’s Revenge” (2018), April and Nina’s Salon Newsletter “How State and Local Governments Impoverish African American Neighborhoods” (2017), April and Nina’s Salon Newsletter “My Journey to the Podium” (2017), April and Nina’s Salon Newsletter “Jubilee Day” (2016), April and Nina’s Salon Newsletter Feels Like a Woman 1997, screenplay Filmography Matthew Kennedy: One Man’s Journey (2006), produced and directed by Nina Kennedy Portrait: An American Concert Pianist (1985), produced and directed by Nina Kennedy