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For over twenty-five years, Nigel Kennedy has been
acknowledged as one of the world's leading violin virtuosos and is, without
doubt, one of the most important violinists Britain has ever produced. His
virtuosic technique, unique talent and mass appeal have brought fresh
perspectives to both the classical and contemporary repertoire. He is the best
selling classical violinist worldwide.
As a child, he was Yehudi Menuhin’s most famous protégé,
studying first at the Menuhin School (where it emerged that the legendary
violinist had personally paid the young Kennedy’s fees throughout his education
at the school) before moving to the Juilliard School of Music in New York to
study under the celebrated teacher, Dorothy DeLay.
During his career Nigel Kennedy has relentlessly circled
the globe, undertaking major tours and performing with the world’s major
orchestras and conductors, from Europe to the United States to Australia. Major
debuts have included his 1977 London Royal Festival Hall performance, the Berlin
Philharmonic in 1980, his New York orchestral debut in 1987 and his 2004 French
debut.
Nigel Kennedy has attracted an enormous amount of
worldwide media attention throughout his extraordinary career. His television
appearances have been wide and varied and he has given numerous Royal
performances, including for Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness The
Duke of Edinburgh, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and Princess Diana. He
has also been presented with many awards including, amongst others, Outstanding
Contribution to British Music and Male Artist of the Year at the UK Brit Awards;
in France a Gold Award on the major network TV programme Vivement Dimanche and
in Switzerland The Gold Rose of Montreux.
An exclusive and major EMI artist since the very start
of his career, Nigel Kennedy's multi-award-winning discography is extensive. His
first highly-acclaimed recording was Elgar’s Violin Concerto which was voted
1985 Record of the Year by Gramophone magazine and was awarded Best Classical
Album of the Year at the BPI Awards, selling in excess of 300,000 copies. His
recordings of the Brahms and Beethoven violin concertos have each sold over
100,000 copies and his first landmark recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons earned
a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the best-selling classical work of
all time. Over 2 million copies have been sold and the album remained top of the
UK classical charts for over a year. His second Vivaldi volume with the Berliner
Philharmoniker won the prestigious German Echo Award for Best Performance of
18th Century music and the supreme Austrian classical award The Amadeus Prize
for Best Instrumental Recording of 2005. He has also recorded concertos by Bach,
Beethoven, Berg, Brahms, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Walton,
alongside chamber music and recital discs. His passion for jazz resulted in the
album “Blue Note Sessions” made under the eye of Grammy award winning producer
Jay Newland featuring a band of jazz giants such as Ron Carter and Jack
DeJohnette amongst others. Released in 2006 on the fabled Blue Note Label,
Kennedy was the first ever EMI Classics violinist to be invited to join the
label.
In his brief leisure moments Nigel Kennedy remains
passionate about football and has long been a devotee of Aston Villa, attending
as many matches as his schedule allows. He is married to his long-time partner;
he has one son, and they divide their time between homes in Krakow, London and
Malvern.
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