Nigel Kennedy: Difference between revisions
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{{Quote| "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."<ref>{{Cite web|author=Marcus Dysch|date=16 August 2013|title=BBC to cut Kennedy slur from Proms broadcast|url=http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/110366/bbc-cut-kennedy-slur-proms-broadcast|publisher=[[The Jewish Chronicle|thejc.com]]|accessdate=18 August 2013}}</ref> }} |
{{Quote| "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."<ref>{{Cite web|author=Marcus Dysch|date=16 August 2013|title=BBC to cut Kennedy slur from Proms broadcast|url=http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/110366/bbc-cut-kennedy-slur-proms-broadcast|publisher=[[The Jewish Chronicle|thejc.com]]|accessdate=18 August 2013}}</ref> }} |
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BBC governor [[Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech|Baroness Deech]] called on Kennedy to apologise for his "offensive and untrue" comment,<ref name = "Mweiss Kennedy">{{Cite web|author=Tom Suarez|date=16 August 2013|title=BBC to censor violinist Nigel Kennedy's statement about Israeli apartheid from TV broadcast|url=http://mondoweiss.net/2013/08/bbc-to-censor-violinist-nigel-kennedys-statement-about-israeli-apartheid-from-tv-broadcast.html|publisher=[[Mondoweiss]]|accessdate=18 August 2013}}</ref> while others condemned the BBC for "political censorship".<ref>{{Cite web|title=PSC condemns BBC censorship|url=http://www.palestinecampaign.org/nigelkennedy/|publisher=[[Palestine Solidarity Campaign|palestinecampaign.org]]|date=19 August 2013|accessdate=19 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=Amena Saleem|date=19 August 2013|title=Why won't BBC let Nigel Kennedy denounce Israeli apartheid?|url=http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/amena-saleem/why-wont-bbc-let-nigel-kennedy-denounce-israeli-apartheid|publisher=[[The Electronic Intifada|electronicintifada.net]]|accessdate=20 August 2013}}</ref> In an official statement, Kennedy said he found it "incredible and quite frightening that in the 21st century it is still such an insurmountable problem to call things the way they are."<ref>{{Cite web|author=Nigel Kennedy|date=20 August 2013|title=Official statement on BBC|url=http://www.facebook.com/palestinesolidarityuk/posts/586771078032825|accessdate=20 August 2013}}</ref> |
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==Discography== |
==Discography== |
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Revision as of 02:56, 28 July 2014
Nigel Kennedy | |
|---|---|
 Nigel Kennedy, Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2009 | |
| Born | 28 December 1956 Brighton, England |
| Occupation(s) | Violinist, violist |
Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is a British-born violinist and violist. He made his early career in the classical field, and he has performed and recorded most of the major violin concerti. He later included jazz, klezmer, and other genres in his repertoire.
Musical background
Nigel Kennedy's grandfather was Lauri Kennedy, a British-born musician and principal cellist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra,[1] who played with Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Arthur Rubinstein, and others. His grandmother was Dorothy Kennedy, a pianist, who accompanied John McCormack and taught Enrico Caruso's children. Lauri and Dorothy settled in Australia, where their son, the cellist John Kennedy, was born. At the age of 24, John moved to England and joined the 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" although she and John never married). However, John ultimately left Stoner and returned to Australia, unaware she was pregnant by him. John remained unaware of the existence of his son, Nigel Kennedy, until they met for the first time when Nigel was 11.[2] Nigel Kennedy has about 30 close relatives in Australia, whom he visits whenever he tours there.[3]
Early life and musical career
Nigel Kennedy was born in Brighton, East Sussex. A boy prodigy, as a 10-year-old he would pick out Fats Waller tunes on the piano after hearing his stepfather's jazz records.[4] He was a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music, and later studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Dorothy DeLay.
At the age of 16, Kennedy was invited by Stéphane Grappelli to appear with him at New York's Carnegie Hall, under the threat from his teachers at the Juilliard that it would ruin his classical career.[5] He made his recording debut in 1984 with Elgar's Violin Concerto. Kennedy's recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1989 sold over 2 million copies and earned a place as one of the best-selling classical recordings ever.[6] The album remained top of the UK classical charts for over a year with sales equivalent to one copy sold every 30 seconds.[7]
He gave numerous performances for The Prince's Trust, the Royal Variety Performance and private performances at St. James's Palace and Buckingham Palace. He published his biography Always Playing in 1991.[8] He then took the controversial and highly publicised decision to withdraw completely from public performance, at which point he made the album Music in Colours with Stephen Duffy. He made a triumphant return to the international concert platform to critical acclaim five years later.[7] In 1997, Kennedy received an award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music at the BRIT Awards, and in 2001 received the 'Male Artist of the Year' award.[7]
Kennedy recorded a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" for the 1993 album Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix. In 1999 Sony Classical released The Kennedy Experience, which featured improvisational recordings of Hendrix compositions. According to a BBC interview with Kennedy, the violinist stated that the recording is "an album of music inspired by Jimi Hendrix. It is an extended instrumental work in six movements, each movement a classical interpretation of a Hendrix song".[9] On the recording, Kennedy is accompanied by seven other musicians, and the lineup includes two cellos, an oboe, two guitars, a Dobro, flute, and double bass. With cellist Lynn Harrell, he has recorded an album of duets.
In 2000, he recorded Riders on the Storm: The Doors Concerto (with Jaz Coleman), a violin based orchestral version of some Doors songs, including "Strange Days", "LA Woman", "The End", and "Riders on the Storm". And, on 27 November, Kennedy joined rock group The Who at the Royal Albert Hall to play the violin solo on the song "Baba O'Riley", released three years later on the album Live at the Royal Albert Hall. Kennedy has played on several tracks - notably "Experiment IV"- by British singer/songwriter Kate Bush, who was a guest on Kennedy's episode of This Is Your Life. He was featured on two of Sarah Brightman's songs for her 2003 album Harem.
He has been exploring Klezmer music with the Polish jazz band Kroke. The band consists of musicians "who have been knocking around with Kennedy for five years. ... [Kennedy explains], 'I met them all separately at jam sessions in the jazz club near where I live in Cracow, ... I thought: that’s the drummer I want, that’s the bass player, and so on. They’ve all got their own projects.'"[10]
In late 2005, Kennedy went to New York to record his first album for the jazz label Blue Note Sessions. Other musicians on the album were Ron Carter on double bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums; and saxophonist Joe Lovano. Kennedy has since stated that "from now on, at least 50 per cent of my endeavour is going to be in the jazz field".[4]
Kennedy appointed a new manager, Terri Robson,[citation needed] and returned to the Proms after an absence of 21 years, performing Elgar's Violin Concerto and a late-night Prom with the Nigel Kennedy Quintet.[10]
He also plays the viola, and has recorded Sir William Walton's Viola Concerto.[11]
In 1991, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letters) by the University of Bath.[12]
Image and controversies
Kennedy's persona is seen by some as abrasive and limiting to his career,[13] citing as an example his use of a 'Mockney' accent instead of the Received Pronunciation he had when he was interviewed as a child in 1964 on the BBC's Town and Around.[14]
Kennedy was attacked for his approach to classical music by John Drummond in 1991, who called him "a Liberace for the Nineties" and criticised his "ludicrous clothes and grotesque, self-invented accent."[4][15]
Until 2006 he had expressed his intention of not appearing on the classical London concert scene with a London orchestra, seen by some as arrogance[5] and stated by Kennedy 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[16] 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 improvisatory elements in his performances, as in his Jimi Hendrix-inspired cadenza to the Beethoven Violin Concerto and his jazz and fusion recordings.
In the 2013 BBC Proms he appeared with the Palestine Strings and made passing reference to Israeli 'apartheid', later accusing the BBC of 'censoring' his remark.[17]
Personal life and politics
When not touring, Kennedy divides his time between residences in Malvern, Worcestershire (where his former girlfriend and son Sark live), and London and Kraków, where he lives with his Polish second wife, Agnieszka.[4][5][18][19]
In the late 1980s, Kennedy was romantically involved with singer/guitarist Brix Smith.
Kennedy is a well-known Aston Villa F.C. supporter.[20] At Przystanek Woodstock 2010, he had his orchestra wear Aston Villa shirts, while directing the crowd in the team's chants. Whilst living and recording in Poland he also took an active interest in KS Cracovia, in whose 100th anniversary club replica kit he appeared.
On 24 October 2006, Kennedy broke his arm in a cycling accident, confirmed in an interview on BBC Radio 3 on 20 April 2007.[21]
Kennedy has acknowledged regularly smoking cannabis in order to aid his creativity.[22]
Politics
Kennedy is a socialist.[23] 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.
The musician is a vocal opponent of Israel's policies in the West Bank, and, in the summer of 2007, he told a Ha'aretz 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."[24]
In 2013, the BBC censored the violinist's attribution of Apartheid to Israel which had been made during a Proms performance, from its broadcast of the event.[25] 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."[26]
Discography
| Year | Album | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Very Best of Nigel Kennedy (EMI) | with various artists |
| 2009 | SHHH! (EMI) | 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; |
| 2008 | A Very Nice Album (EMI) | 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; |
| Beethoven: Violin Concerto / Mozart: Violin Concerto No.4 / Horace Silver: Creepin In (EMI) | Polish Chamber Orchestra | |
| 2007 | Polish Spirit (EMI) | Polish Chamber Orchestra, Jacek Kaspszyk |
| The Platinum Collection (EMI) | with various artists | |
| 2006 | The Bluenote Sessions (EMI) | |
| Kennedy, Live at La Citadelle (DVD) (EMI) | Polish Chamber Orchestra | |
| Inner Thoughts (EMI) | ||
| Nigel Kennedy Plays Bach (DVD) (EMI) | Irish Chamber Orchestra | |
| 2005 | Legend: Beethoven and Bruch (CD+DVD) (EMI) | NDR Symphony Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt / English Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Tate |
| 2004 | Vivaldi II (EMI) | Berliner Philharmoniker |
| 2003 | East Meets East (EMI) | with Kroke |
| Vivaldi | Berliner Philharmoniker | |
| 2002 | Greatest Hits (EMI) | with various artists |
| 2000 | Kennedy Plays Bach (EMI) | (as Kennedy) |
| Riders on the Storm: The Doors Concerto (Decca) | as Kennedy with Jaz Coleman | |
| Duos for Violin & Cello (EMI) | as Kennedy with Lynn Harrell | |
| 1999 | Classic Kennedy (EMI) | (as Kennedy) |
| 1999 | The Kennedy Experience (Sony) | (as Kennedy) |
| 1998 | Kreisler (EMI) | (as Kennedy) |
| 1997 | Elgar: Violin Concerto / Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending (EMI) | (as Kennedy), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle |
| 1996 | Kafka (EMI) | |
| 1993 | Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto (EMI) | London Philharmonic Orchestra, Okko Kamu |
| 1992 | Beethoven: Violin Concerto | NDR Symphony Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt |
| Just Listen: Sibelius: Violin Concerto / Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto (EMI) | City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle / London Philharmonic Orchestra, Okko Kamu | |
| 1991 | Brahms: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 (EMI) | London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt |
| 1989 | Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (EMI) | English Chamber Orchestra |
| 1988 | Sibelius: Violin Concerto (EMI) | City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle |
| Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor / Bruch: Violin Concerto No.1 / Schubert: Rondo in A (EMI) | English Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Tate | |
| 1987 | Let Loose | |
| Walton: Violin Concerto / Viola Concerto (EMI) | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, André Previn | |
| 1986 | Bartók: Mainly Black / Ellington: Sonata for Solo Violin (EMI) | with Alec Dankworth (double bass) |
| Tchaikovsky; Violin Concerto / Chausson: Poeme (EMI) | London Philharmonic Orchestra, Okko Kamu | |
| 1984 | Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op.61 (EMI) | London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley |
| Salut d'Amour & Other Elgar Favourites (Chandos) | ||
| Nigel Kennedy Plays Jazz (Chandos) |
Instruments
Nigel Kennedy has owned or played instruments by:
- Guarneri del Gesu, 'La Fonte' c.1735;
- Stradivari, 'La Cathédrale' 1707;
- Scott Cao;
- Torbjörn Zethelius, 1991
- Anselmo Bellosio, 1792 viola
- Johannes Finkel bow
- Violectra electric violin
References
- Notes
- ^ John White, Lionel Tertis. Books.google.com.au. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ "NSW HSC online". Hsc.csu.edu.au. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ Limelight, February 2008
- ^ a b c d Nigel Kennedy: All jazzed up The Independent – 5 December 2007
- ^ a b c d "If you need a pillock, call me", The Guardian, 29 September 2006
- ^ Not quite Vivaldi: Nigel Kennedy remembers Hendrix CNN.com – 23 August 1999.
- ^ a b c "We may play dead composers' works, but we don't have to look as if we're still at the funeral", – Nigel Kennedy ClassicFM
- ^ Nigel Kennedy Always Playing. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991 ISBN 0-297-81209-2
- ^ Interview with Nigel Kennedy on his album of Jimi Hendrix compositions from the BBC News website
- ^ a b Richard Morrison "Nigel Kennedy returns to the BBC Proms", The Times, 11 July 2008.
- ^ "Nigel Kennedy and the viola". Viola-in-music.com. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ "Honorary Graduates 1989 to present". bath.ac.uk. University of Bath. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
- ^ "Get Nigel Kennedy's Four Seasons CD FREE in today's Mail On Sunday | Mail Online". The Daily Mail. London. 9 March 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ Preston, John (8 June 2008). "Nigel Kennedy: 'I didn't want to be the Des O'Connor of the violin'". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ booklet Beethoven violin concerto (1992)
- ^ http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/08/nigel-kennedy-lashes-out-at-bbc-palestine-censorship.html
- ^ "Nigel Kennedy tries less spit, more Polish", The Times, 26 October 2007.
- ^ "Out of the woods."
- ^ "Famous Aston Villa supporters". Avfc.co.uk. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ http://www.musicalamerica.com/news/newsstory.cfm?archived=0&storyid=14824&categoryid=2&cookies=1
- ^ Hall, Allan; Ward, Victoria (5 October 2010). "Nigel Kennedy admits smoking cannabis at drugs raid party". The Daily Telegraph. London.
- ^ "First violin / Prelude to dialogue". Noam Ben Zeev . Ha'aretz, 24 December 2007.
- ^ JPost.com staff (18 August 2013). "Report: BBC to cut Israel 'apartheid' comments from UK concert broadcast". jpost.com. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
- ^ Marcus Dysch (16 August 2013). "BBC to cut Kennedy slur from Proms broadcast". thejc.com. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
External links
- Kennedy's discography at EMI Classics
- The Kennedy Experience at Sony Classical
- Nigel Kennedy at AllMusic
- Television Interview with Nigel Kennedy from C Music TV
- Unofficial Nigel's Fan Club website