Conductor John Kennedy's reading of the score was superbly dramatic.
– Toronto Globe and Mail, on Faustus, 2007
Mr. Kennedy’s Horn Concerto is a major piece, and a splendid addition to the repertoire. I wish we could have heard it again.
– Cool Cleveland.com review of Horn Concerto, 2007
One of the most spontaneous performances imaginable… Kennedy turned out a vibrant interpretation and his brilliantly alive Spoleto Festival Orchestra blazed with classic elegance. Kennedy is a Mozart conductor to the manor born.
– Charleston Post and Courier, 2003
It was impossible not to feel deeply moved by Kennedy’s spine-tingling score.
– Albuquerque Journal on Guadalupe, 2000
John Kennedy is a composer of rare talent. The premiere of his Storm and Stress brought the audience to its feet at its conclusion…an expressive work that should be heard again.
– Charleston Post and Courier, 2005
Composer and conductor John Kennedy is a dynamic and energetic figure in American music. Recognized for his artistic leadership, imaginative programming, audience development, and expertise in the music of our time, Kennedy has conducted celebrated performances of opera, ballet, standard orchestral and new music. His own compositions, from operas to chamber works, are praised for their new lyricism and luminous sound.
Kennedy presently serves as the Artistic Associate to Spoleto Festival USA, in a central role planning and leading many of the Festival’s “highly regarded presentations of music” (The Wall Street Journal, June, 2007). He is the Artistic Director of Santa Fe New Music, which presents diverse and contextualized programming and serves as a new model for a 21st Century musical institution. He has guest conducted for many organizations including New York City Ballet, and the Lincoln Center Festival. Mr. Kennedy has led countless premieres and worked with many leading composers of our time in performances of their work, including Robert Ashley, Henry Brant, John Cage, Lou Harrison, and Steve Reich. He has conducted numerous American premieres of leading international work, including orchestral works by Michel van der Aa, Brett Dean, Pascal Dusapin, Michael Nyman, Somei Satoh, and Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky.
As a composer, Kennedy has a distinct compositional voice which has proven extremely appealing to audiences and musicians. His works have been performed worldwide and featured at major festivals including the Paris Festival d’Automne, Aspekte Salzburg, the Zurich June Festival, London’s Wigmore Hall Piano Fest, the Singapore Arts Festival, and the Kanagawa Arts Festival. He has been commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera (Trinity, 2007), Sarasota Opera (The Language of Birds, 2004), the Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland, Bay Area Pianists, the Walt Whitman Project, and many others. Numerous choreographers have worked with Mr. Kennedy’s music, including Albert Evans in a solo ballet for Peter Boal, and Mr. Boal in a work for Pacific Northwest Ballet.