Works by John Kennedy
Opera/Music Theater
Works for Orchestra/Chamber Orchestra
Works for Orchestra with Soloist
Works for Chamber Ensemble
Works for Chamber Ensemble with Voice
Choral Works
Solo Works
Works for Piano
Vocal Works
Soundtracks/Electronic Media
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Compositions
Kennedy has composed over 60 works spanning many idioms. Stage works include the cantata/drama Guadalupe (2000, Santa Fe Stages), youth opera The Language of Birds (2004, Sarasota Opera), and the chamber opera Trinity (2007, Santa Fe Opera). Orchestral works include The Power Within (1997), Chant for Strings (2002), the overture Storm and Stress (2005), and BAGHDAD (2006). His Horn Concerto for Rich King of the Cleveland Orchestra premiered in December, 2007.
Kennedy’s chamber works are for a wide variety of ensembles and include the ode to minimalism Nostalgic Patterns (1995, New Renaissance Chamber Artists), the chamber cantata One Body (1998, NYSCA), Transitional Songs (2000, Essential Music), and the brass quintet Recession and Procession (2006). He has composed a number of important percussion works including the meditative Chant (1988), Exigencies of Inner Rhythm (1997), and First Deconstruction (2005). Choral works include Someday (2000, NYC’s Sacred Music in a Sacred Space), which was featured at the 2006 American Choral Directors Association Conference.
Many musicians have asked Kennedy for solo works, for which he has launched a series of pieces called Spoletudes. Spoletude I for solo trombone was premiered by Steven Parker in 2006. Works for piano include The Winged Energy of Delight (1997, toy piano for Margaret Leng Tan), The Force of Its Spirit (2001, Judith Gordon), The Family Piano (2005, Sarah Cahill), and Endangered (2007, Marthanne Dorminy-Gardner). Kennedy’s cello solo The Morning Inside Us (1998) has been used by at least 5 choreographers including Peter Boal. Frequently praised for his vocal writing, Kennedy has composed many songs and chamber pieces with voice.
Recorded works include Chant (Monroe Street), One Body (First Edition/SFNM), and Someday (MSR Classics).
Some might say the measure of great art is that it touches the heart, teaches a lesson and shifts one's perspective on life. I confess that at the world premiere of ‘The Language of Birds,’ I laughed and cried, I learned that truth and kindness are more valuable than money, and I will never listen to bird song in the same way again. After much hard work, a good dose of inspiration and months of collaboration with the singers of the Sarasota Opera, composer John Kennedy has created an opera of great note.
– Sarasota Herald Tribune, 2004
Sometimes in the course of human events, something so extraordinary happens that you want life to stop – just for an instant, while you savor the moment. At Spoleto’s Music in Time series Monday night, a Recital Hall full of people had to be reminded to continue breathing as John Kennedy premiered his ‘One Body’… Amidst all the sound and light and movement of Spoleto, this ‘One Body’ is what I want to hold in my head and heart until next year. Or maybe the year after that. Kennedy has crafted a work of truth and beauty more lasting than even he knows.
– Charleston Post and Courier, 1999
‘One Body’ radiates the warmth and generosity of Kennedy’s musical mind.
– Albuquerque Journal, 2003
Kudos to Kennedy for writing singable, lyric vocal parts. ‘Trinity’ is a good work – musical, well-paced, adaptable for performance in virtually any kind of space, and easily cast with either young artists or more experienced singers – and worlds apart from the drivel that passes for most musical outreach these days. It would be an excellent operatic introduction for adults as well as kids.
– Santa Fe New Mexican, 2007
This music is meant for intense listening to its essence...there seemed to be an expansion of the space.
– Zurich Tages-Anzeiger on Chant, 1991
A quite beautiful setting, both graceful and intellectually astute...certainly the highlight of the concert.
– Charleston Post and Courier on Summum Bonum, 1994
I had never heard a piece in which the textual manifesto so blurred into the sonic analogy, making the piece abstract, metaphoric, and self-referential all at once. And pretty, too.
– The Village Voice on Sounds Heard, 1995
Pleasant and powerful, it made one want to move. A quick-moving but formal hieratic procession.
– The Santa Fe New Mexican on Nostalgic Patterns, 2001