Kevin Kenner

Kevin Kenner (born May 19, 1963, in Coronado, California) is an American concert pianist.

Biography At the age of 17, Kenner was a finalist at the X International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Ten years later, in 1990 he returned to Warsaw and achieved second place at the XII International Chopin Piano Competition and the Special Prize for the Best Performance of a Polonaise. No first prize was awarded that year. Earlier that year he won the third prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Other awards include the International Terence Judd Award (London, 1990), prize for Best Performance of Chamber Music (shared with three others) at the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition (Salt Lake City, Utah 1988).

Kenner has since performed as soloist with world class orchestras including the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, The Czech Philharmonic, the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Brussels, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and in the US with the principal orchestras of San Francisco, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, New Jersey, Rochester, Baltimore, St. Paul and many others. London, and some of his students have gone on to win prizes in international piano competitions. Since 2011, when he met violinist Kyung-wha Chung at the Great Mountains Festival, they have created a performance partnership. They have worked together on an album and had multiple tours.

Kevin Kenner's recordings include many discs of Chopin works as well as recordings of Ravel, Schumann and Piazzolla. The latter was awarded a “Fryderyk” in Poland in 2012 as best CD of the year under the category Chamber Music.

Kenner was a member of the jury at the XVI International Chopin Piano Competition in 2010, the XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition in 2021, and served on the jury again at the XIX International Chopin Piano Competition in 2025.

Recordings

Kevin has made numerous recordings, including those of Chopin's Ballades, Preludes, and both Piano Concertos, with conductor Antoni Wit and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Poland. In 2007, he also released a recording of various works by Maurice Ravel.