Intellect or emotion, rationalism or a bit of madness – these are the poles of interpretation of Chopin's music by Kevin Kenner. On one hand, the artist is interested in the intellectual side of music, and on the other is attracted to its melancholy and sentimentality. The great career of American pianist Kevin Kenner began with a second place (first place was not awarded) at the 12th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in 1990.
The Chopin Competition is one of the oldest musical contests. Being one of the laureates of this great musical festival opens the door to concert halls all over the world. Even though before the Warsaw struggles in 1990, the artist had won third prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, undoubtedly this second prize in Warsaw became his career break, which continues to this day (the artist is in the jury of the Chopin competition). World successes have led to him being announced as one of America's top pianists ("Chicago Tribune"), listed alongside such great Chopinists as Rubinstein, Benedetti-Michelangeli and Dinu Lipatti. Kenner's extensive discography includes more than Chopin, with Ravel, Schumann and Piazzoli (for his album with compositions by the Argentinian composer, Kenner received a Fryderyk prize in the chamber music category).
And Bartók claimed that music contests were for horses, not for ... artists.
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Mikołaj Rykowski PhD
Musicologist and clarinetist, doctorate, and associate at the Department Music Theory at the Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań. Author of a book and numerous articles devoted to the phenomenon of Harmoniemusik – the 18th-century practice of brass bands. Co-author of the scripts "Speaking concerts" and author of the spoken introductions to philharmonic concerts in Szczecin, Poznań, Bydgoszcz and Łódź.
