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David Kenedy

Professorial Staff - Cello, String Chamber Music Coordinator

Music

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
Faculty of Music
King Charles Court
Old Royal Naval College
Greenwich
London
SE10 9JF

Tel: +44 (0)20 8305 4444

Email: d.kenedy@trinitylaban.ac.uk

Area of Work

Strings Department
david kenedy

Biography

David studied the cello with William Pleeth, Aldo Parisot and Boris Pergamenshikov, and has Masters Degrees from the University of Cambridge and Yale. An experienced chamber musician, David was a founder member of the London Mozart Trio and the London Piano Quartet. As well as his broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and internationally, David has received renown for his recordings, and had the honour of being invited to perform in Jaqueline du Pré Memorial Concerts in Lambeth Palace and the Wigmore Hall. He recorded the complete Bach solo Cello Suites, released by Signum Classics in 2007 (“unaffected, honest musicianship at its best” Brian Clark, Early Music Review; “Isserlis is a widely known and highly regarded cellist, yet I found myself less impressed with his effort than that of Kenedy” Good-Music-Guide 2013). David co-directed the National Cello Festival “Go Cello!” held in Greenwich in 2018, and currently directs the String Chamber Music Programme at Trinity Laban, where he has taught since 1990. Most recently, he recorded Schubert’s Sonata for Arpeggione and Chopin’s Cello Sonata with his wife, Rianka Bouwmeester, released by Signum Classics in June 2017. David speaks French, German, Italian and Dutch, as well as English.

Qualifications/Educational Background

BA Hons, MA, University of Cambridge
MMus, Yale University
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Teaching Experience

David holds regular ‘cello classes for his own students, directs the String Chamber Music Programme and the Post-Graduate string Tutorial, including an annual performance at London’s Wigmore Hall, and teaches regularly at the Dartington International Summer School. He has given ‘cello masterclasses at Montepulciano, the Summer School of the Köln Hochschule für Musik and at the Royal Academy of Music (for the London Cello Society). His classes have been broadcast on the BBC World service. David’s former students are currently working as soloists, chamber musicians and in orchestras around the world, including cellists in non-Classical genres, Stjepan Hauser (of “Two Cellos” fame) and Ayanna Witter-Johnson (former South Bank Centre emerging artist and MOBO award nominee) while in classical chamber music ensembles, for the last two years David was mentor and coach of the winning string quartet (Isbilia Quartet, 2015) and piano trio (Nemesis Trio, 2016) in the prestigious Cavatina Intercollegiate Chamber Music Competition (the first time any Conservatoire has won two years in succession). David is Head of String Chamber Music at Trinity Laban.

Creative Outputs

Recordings:

    • “Bach Bachianas” – Delos D/CD3041 (1986)
    • “The Sound of ‘Cellos” – Delos D/CD3042 (1987)
    • “The Beethoven Connection” – Amalie Records ALACD1201
    • “Schubert Bb/Dvorák ‘Dumky’ Piano Trios” – IMP Classics PCD1006 (“Overall First Choice” – BBC Radio 3 Record Review)
    • “Schubert Eb/Dvorák Op.21 Piano Trios” – IMP Classics 30367 00132
    • “Cyril Scott Piano Quartet/Quintet” – Dutton/Epoch CDLX 7116
    • “Alan Bush ‘Cello Sonata/Piano Quartet” – Dutton/Epoch CDLX 7130
    • “J. S. Bach, The Six Cello Suites” – Signum Classics SIGCD091 (“There is no denying David Kenedy’s intimate understanding of these fantastic pieces and his ability to convey his interpretation of their inner meaning…Unaffected, honest playing at its best.” – Early Music Review)
    • F Schubert “Arpeggione Sonata” and F Chopin Sonata for Cello and Piano SIGCD824 (released 16th June 2017)

J S Bach
Prelude to Suite No. 1 in G major
Cello Suite No. 4 In E Flat Major I. Prelude
Courante from Suite VI in D Major
Recorded 2007 Signum Classics SIGCD091
Performer: David Kenedy

It is every cellist’s dream to record Bach’s Cello Suites, and my chance came when, at the age of 50, Signum Classics offered me this wonderful opportunity. The recording received some terrific accolades, like this from Early Music Review 2007, “Unaffected, honest musicianship at its best”, and this from Good Music Guide 2013, “Isserlis is a widely known and highly regarded cellist; yet I found myself less impressed with his effort than with that of Kenedy.”

Alan Bush – Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 120, 1st Movement
Recorded 2003 Epoch CLDX 7130
Performers: David Kenedy (cello), Philip Fowke (piano)

I have chosen this movement for contrast. Every musician has to be at the forefront of new music, and this piece had been previously unrecorded and unknown to me and others, like many of the works I have been asked to perform over my career. It is difficult and at times somewhat unforgiving music, but also full of feeling and passion. It is one of Bush’s very last works, written in 1989 when the composer’s eyesight was failing. In this recording, I am partnered by Philip Fowke, an outstanding pianist and friend, with whom I played in the London Piano Quartet for many years.

Schubert

Piano Trio No 2 in Eb Major, D929, 1st Movement (Allegro)
Recorded 1994 Carlton Classics/IMP Classics 30367 00132 and Portrait Classics PCL2104
Performers: The London Mozart Trio (Charles Sewart, violin, David Kenedy, cello, Colin Stone, piano)

Another golden opportunity to become part of the recording history of an iconic work comes from the beginning of my career as a chamber musician when, within a year of forming, the London Mozart Trio (of which I was a founder member) was asked by IMP Classics to record one of the masterpieces of the Chamber Music repertoire, Schubert’s great piano trio in Bb. Our interpretation was selected as “overall first choice” in BBC Radio 3’s comparative “Record Review” programme, beating off the stiff opposition of the Cortot, Thibaud and Casals, the Beaux Arts Trio and more than 20 other versions. As a result of the success of this first recording, we were asked to record the 2nd Trio, the first movement of which is presented here, greeted with similarly enthusiastic reviews.

 

Schubert
Sonata for Arpeggione (Cello) and Piano, D821, First Movement Allegro Moderato
Performers: David Kenedy (cello) and Rianka Bouwmeester (piano)
Recorded September 2016, Trinity Laban Recording Studio
Signum Classics SIGCD824

Of all Cello Sonatas, this is the one closest to my heart, joy fluctuating with sorrow in music of a touching simplicity and natural song-like quality, reflecting the carefree joy and frivolity of Viennese life, the threat of death occasionally but significantly casting its shadow over the fragility of existence. All life is here. I was overjoyed when offered the opportunity to record this extraordinary piece, at once Classical and Romantic, all the more because I am joined here by my wonderful wife, Rianka, in our first joint CD.

 

Chopin
Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 65, First Movement Allegro Moderato Performers: David Kenedy (cello) and Rianka Bouwmeester (piano)
Recorded September 2016, Trinity Laban Recording Studio
Signum Classics SIGCD824

From the same recording as Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, Chopin’s composition is a work that has followed me throughout my life. It is the last of Chopin’s works to be published and one of those I played in my debut recital at the South bank Centre. This is full-blown Romantic music, feelings of love, pride, hope and disappointment, melancholy and elation bursting out of the classical mould in a final outpouring of life’s experience.