JOHN KENNEDY
Through institutional leadership, performance, and education, I am a devoted agent of music as a living cultural force. Whether leading musical organizations to become the best versions of themselves, shepherding new work and projects to premiere, or mentoring young musicians to expand their horizons, my interest is in exploring and growing the social possibility of music in people’s lives.
I have synergized many roles in forging my leadership practice, always with an emphasis on joy in music-making and care in leadership. I believe today’s changing music world is less
well-served by the conventional aspects of siloed skillsets, and that music both provides and models holistic forms of personal and institutional development. In a world where music is being increasingly marginalized and devalued, we have an opportunity and responsibility to position music as a deep cultural resource: an emotionally uplifting, analog, experiential alternative in the cultural landscape. My most gratifying experiences have been in long-term projects where music has had a profound effect on participants, institutions, and communities.
Music-making is an extraordinary model of human collaboration, and every instance of it is unique. I am forever interested in all aspects of this process of creative collaboration, and joining others in the exploration of where music can take us.
About
John Kennedy is a musical changemaker who has asserted his practice through artistic leadership, conducting, performing, and composing. Noted for his vast experience in both performing and presenting the music of the past 100 years, Kennedy has worked at the forefront of the shifting musical landscape of the past three decades.
Through his leadership roles at Spoleto Festival USA (1990-2023), Essential Music/NYC (1990-2001), and Santa Fe New Music (2001-2012), John built strong audience loyalty with contextual and themed programming, innovative educational and community engagement programs, and equitable and caring leadership. His mission-driven approaches helped to enhance institutional excellence, attract funding, and broaden stakeholder engagement.
As a conductor, John’s expertise in stylistically diverse music, from traditional repertoire to the rigorously new, has involved him in wide-ranging projects on the stages of the Lincoln Center Festival, New York City Ballet, the San Francisco Opera, Singapore International Festival of the Arts, Spoleto Festival USA, Arena Stage, West Edge Opera, and many other organizations. At Spoleto, he distinguished the festival’s opera programming with 11 World and U.S. premieres from 2010 to 2022, including the World Premiere of Rhiannon Giddens' and Michael Abels' Pulitzer Prize-winning Omar in 2022, the 2018 U.S. Premiere of Liza Lim’s Tree of Codes, and the 2015 World Premiere of Huang Ruo’s Paradise Interrupted.
As a composer, John’s music has been described in Chamber Music Magazine as “accessible, even joyous music, aimed to impart wisdom and celebrate our existence on earth.” His long-time focus has been on presenting and celebrating music as a form of environmental and social consciousness, with a body of work that ranges from experimental process pieces to family operas.
John’s commitment to education has accompanied all of his work, from designing school residencies using the Gardner method of multiple intelligences, to building community engagement programs focusing on access to creativity, to mentoring young musicians into the next generation of musical activists. He has taught at the Oberlin Conservatory and Santa Clara University, where for nine years he led the orchestra and new music ensemble, as well as designed and authored new courses. He is the author of numerous program notes, essays, and musicological articles, and has been published in journals including the Musical Quarterly.
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​Originally from Minnesota and a percussionist, John performed as an orchestral and new music percussionist in New York until 1999, working regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, on Broadway, and in the downtown scene. He holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory and Northwestern University. John served as artist/composer President of the American Music Center from 2003-2006, and during his board tenure from 2000-2009, played a contributing role in broadening the new music community and forging AMC’s evolution into NewMusicUSA. His biographical entry in the New Grove Dictionary of Music/Oxford Music Online was established in 2011.