Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is an English violinist and violist.
His early career was primarily spent performing classical music, and has since expanded into jazz, klezmer, and other music genres.
Early life and background
Kennedy's grandfather was Lauri Kennedy, principal cellist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra,[1] 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 Beecham's 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 Llewellyn-Kennedy 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.[2]
Kennedy was born in Brighton. A child prodigy, as a 10-year-old he picked out Fats Waller tunes on the piano after hearing his stepfather's jazz records.[3] At the age of 7, he became a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music.[4] 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.
Musical career
Until 2000
At the age of 16, Kennedy was invited by jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli to appear with him at New York's Carnegie Hall.[5] He made his recording debut in 1984 with Elgar'sViolin Concerto. His subsequent recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1989 sold over two million copies and earned a place as one of the best-selling of all classical recordings.[6] The album remained at the top of the UK classical charts for over a year, with total sales of over three million units.[7]
In 1992, Kennedy announced the end of his career in classical music.[8] Around this time, he recorded the album Music in Colours with Stephen Duffy. He returned to the international concert platform in the mid-1990s. 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.[9]
Kennedy returned to the 2008 Proms after an absence of 21 years, performing Elgar'sViolin Concerto and a late-night Prom with the Nigel Kennedy Quintet.[13] He was appointed artistic director of the Polish Chamber Orchestra and in 2010, founded the Orchestra of Life, an ensemble of mainly Polish musicians.[8]
In August 2013, he again returned to the Proms performing The Four Seasons at a concert featuring Kennedy with a group of young Palestinian musicians, the Palestine Strings from the Edward Said Conservatory of Music, and the Orchestra of Life. According to Michael Church of The Independent, in the first movement "Spring", Kennedy "swerved off-course with a flurry of bird-tweets followed by a jazz riff from his bassist; the staccato chords of the next movement were decorated by a microtonal Arabic riff from one of the guest players".[14] Near the end of the concert, the BBC removed the violinist's attribution of apartheid to Israel from the television broadcast on BBC4. The comments were broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. A representative of the Corporation said they did not "fall within the editorial remit of the Proms as a classical music festival."[15][16] Kennedy said:
Ladies and gentlemen, it's a bit facile to say it but we all know from experiencing this night of music tonight, that given equality, and getting rid of apartheid, gives a beautiful chance for amazing things to happen.[17]
Kennedy objected to the removal of his remarks from the broadcast. A condition of the booking, to which Kennedy had agreed, was not making such a comment, according to his manager.[15]
Kennedy also plays the viola, and has recorded Sir William Walton's Viola Concerto.[18] Kennedy's own compositions include incidental music for Chekhov's play Three Sisters.[19] Kennedy published his second autobiography, Nigel Kennedy Uncensored!, in 2021.[20]
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In 1991, the Controller of BBC Radio 3John Drummond criticised Kennedy describing him as "a Liberace for the nineties" and objected to his "ludicrous" clothes and "self-invented accent".[21]
Until 2006, Kennedy expressed his intention of not appearing on the classical London concert scene with a London orchestra, which was seen by some as arrogance,[5] although he rationalised it in terms of frustrated perfectionism:
It all comes down to the amount of rehearsal you get, or don't get, in this country. I insist on three or four sessions prior to a concert, and orchestral administrators won't accommodate that. If I didn't care about getting it right, I could do three concerts in the same amount of time and earn three times the money. But you can't do something properly in less time than it takes.[5]
Kennedy expresses a preference[22] for the immediate appeal of live performance, and often records entire works or movements in single takes to preserve this sense in his recordings. He also introduces improvised elements to his performances, as in his Jimi Hendrix-inspired cadenza to Beethoven's Violin Concerto and his jazz and fusion recordings.
In September 2021, Kennedy cancelled a performance at the Royal Albert Hall after the host, Classic FM, prevented him from including a Jimi Hendrix composition at the concert. He had intended to perform a version of "Little Wing" in the manner of Ralph Vaughan Williams[23]
Personal life and politics
Kennedy was romantically involved with singer/guitarist Brix Smith after she had broken up from and divorced husband Mark E. Smith in 1989.[24] Kennedy currently divides his time among residences in Malvern, Worcestershire where his former girlfriend Eve Westmore and son Sark Yves Amadeus (born in 1997) reside, London and Kraków, Poland. He has been married twice; his second wife, Agnieszka (née Chowaniec), is a Polish actress and artistic director, born in April 1977.[5][25]
Kennedy acknowledges regularly smoking cannabis to aid his creativity.[26]
Football
Kennedy is an Aston Villa F.C. supporter.[5] At Przystanek Woodstock 2010, he had his orchestra wear Aston Villa shirts and led the crowd in the team's chants. While living and recording in Poland, he also took an active interest in KS Cracovia, in whose 100th anniversary club replica kit he appeared.
Politics
Kennedy is an avowed socialist.[27] He supported David Davis's campaign when he quit his Shadow Home Secretary post to force a by-election, in protest over proposals to allow terrorist suspects to be locked up for 42 days without charge. Kennedy is a vocal opponent of Israel's policies in the West Bank, and, in the summer of 2007, he told a Haaretz reporter:
I was shocked to see these walls, it's a new apartheid, barbaric behaviour: How can you impose such a collective punishment and separate people? After all, we are all living on the same planet. It seems to me the world should have already learned from what happened in South Africa. And a country that hasn't learned should be boycotted, so that's why I don't perform in your country.[28]
Honours
In 1991, he was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Letters, or Litt.D.) by the University of Bath.[29]
Discography
List of albums, with selected chart positions and notes
Nigel Kennedy Quintet (Nigel Kennedy, electric violin; Adam Kowalewski, bass; Paweł Dobrowolski, drums; Tomasz Grzegorski, tenor sax; Piotr Wyleżoł, piano) with vocals by Xantoné Blacq & Chris Loung; Sylwia Wójcik, cello; Suzy Willison-Kawalec, harp;
SHHH! (EMI)
2009
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Nigel Kennedy Quintet (Nigel Kennedy, electric violin; Adam Kowalewski, contrabass & electric bass; Krzysztof Dziedzic, drums; Tomasz Grzegorski, tenor sax, soprano sax & bass clarinet; Piotr Wyleżoł, piano & Hammond) with vocals by Boy George
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