Nigel Kennedy

Nigel Kennedy born 28 December 1956 is an English violinist and violist His early career was primarily spent performing classical music and he has since expanded into jazz klezmer and other music genres Kennedys grandfather was Lauri Kennedy principal cellist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and his grandmother was Dorothy Kennedy a pianist Lauri and Dorothy Kennedy were Australian while their son the cellist John Kennedy was born in England After graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in London at age 22 John joined the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra later becoming the principal cellist of Sir Thomas Beechams Royal Philharmonic Orchestra While in England John developed a relationship with an English pianist Scylla Stoner with whom he eventually toured in 1952 as part of the LlewellynKennedy Piano Trio with the violinist Ernest Llewellyn Stoner was billed as Scylla Kennedy after she and John married But they ultimately divorced and John returned to Australia Kennedy was born in Brighton A boy prodigy as a 10yearold he picked out Fats Waller tunes on the piano after hearing his stepfathers jazz records At the age of 7 he became a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music He later studied at the Juilliard School in New York City with Dorothy DeLay While there he helped to pay for his studies by busking with fellow student and cellist Thomas Demenga Kennedy has about 30 close relatives in Australia whom he visits whenever he tours there At the age of 16 Kennedy was invited by jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli to appear with him at New Yorks Carnegie Hall He made his recording debut in 1984 with Elgars Violin Concerto His subsequent recording of Vivaldis The Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1989 sold over two million copies and earned a place as one of the bestselling of all classical recordings The album remained at the top of the UK classical charts for over a year with total sales of over three million units In 1992 Kennedy announced the end of his career in classical music Around this time he recorded the album Music in Colours with Stephen Duffy He returned to the international concert platform in the mid1990s In 1997 he received an award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music at the BRIT Awards and in 2001 received the Male Artist of the Year award In other music genres Kennedy recorded a cover of Jimi Hendrixs Fire for the 1993 album Stone Free A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix The same year he made an appearance on Robert Plants solo album Fate of Nations on the track Calling to you In 1999 Sony Classical released The Kennedy Experience which featured improvisational recordings based on Hendrix compositions Kennedys autobiography Always Playing was published in 1991 Source Article Nigel Kennedy from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30