Kenner

Kenner will be soloist in two BSO concertsAudiences on the Eastern Shore and in Western Maryland will have a chance this week to hear Kevin Kenner, the top prize winner in last month's 12th International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.The 27-year-old pianist and Peabody Institute graduate -- who received a hero's welcome when he played the conservatory's Friedberg Hall several weeks ago -- will appear in concerts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Thursday in Salisbury and Saturday in Frederick.

Kevin Kenner feels most at home with Chopin. It's hard to say if Chopin would feel the same about Kenner. But 700 people at the Peabody Institute's sold-out Friedberg Concert Hall last night felt at home with both gentlemen and awarded both first-place applause.The 27-year-old Kenner played Chopin's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor" with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra instead of the earlier planned Mozart Concerto No. 20. It was the same deeply Romantic piece he had played in Warsaw two weeks ago in winning top honors -- but only second prize -- in the Chopin Piano Competition.

All 700-odd seats in the Peabody Conservatory's Friedberg Hall were filled last night and people crowded the back in search of standing room.The reason was the first concert in the United States by pianist Kevin Kenner since he won second prize -- the highest awarded -- in Warsaw's Chopin Competition less than two weeks ago. Kenner is a Peabody graduate (he spent five years working with Leon Fleisher) and the 27-year-old pianist has been among the most successful of recent American competition contestants.

Warsaw--Kevin Kenner's bittersweet victory eight days ago at the 12th international Frederic Chopin Piano Competition here posed a fundamental question.Can a nice guy make it to the very top in the highly competitive concert world? Or is the summit the exclusive domain of ruthless, single-minded egos, as well as flawless technique and musicality?That Mr. Kenner -- a Peabody graduate who returns to Baltimore to perform at his alma mater Tuesday night -- is a nice guy, no one here doubts."He is so nice, so normal," said a concert hall worker charmed by the tall American's unassuming manner.

Kevin Kenner, the 1990 Chopin Piano Competition winner las weekend, already has enough concert and recording offers to keep him busy the next two years and he can finally kiss 10 years of "miserable" piano competitions goodbye.The 1989 Peabody Conservatory graduate who will appear in Baltimore Tuesday, Salisbury Nov. 29 and Frederick Dec. 1, has reaped this harvest since his Warsaw victory as top (though second-prize) winner:* After the 8:15 p.m. Peabody concert Tuesday at Friedberg Concert Hall, he leaves next week for seven recitals in 10 days in Germany.

Kevin Kenner, a 27-year-old graduate of the Peabody Institute, was denied first prize in the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw last weekend. But that doesn't diminish the fact that his second prize was the top honor given this year -- an achievement that puts him in distinguished company. The last American to come out on top in the Chopin trials was Garrick Ohlsson in 1970. The second prize that year went to Mitsuko Uchida, the Japanese pianist whose career has since surpassed Ohlsson's, in large part on the strength of her exquisite Mozart performances and recordings.

MARYLAND MUSIC LOVERS CAN MATCH scorecards with the Chopin Piano Competition jury twice in the next month when Kevin Kenner, top winner in the prestigious contest Friday and 1989 Peabody Conservatory graduate, performs in Baltimore Oct. 30 and Salisbury Nov. 29.Kenner, a 27-year-old, even-tempered Californian, won the biggest honor of his award-filled career but also a curious mixed TC decision requiring an asterisk, like a baseball player's qualified record,...

Kevin Kenner should never have to enter a piano competitio again.The 27-year-old Peabody-trained American won "only" second prize in the 12th international Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland, early yesterday. But no first prize was awarded, and that left Mr. Kenner the top prize winner in one of the two most prestigious piano contests in the world -- Moscow's Tchaikovsky Competition, in which Mr. Kenner won third place this summer, is the other.The Chopin finish also made him the only American to have emerged at the top of the heap in Warsaw since Garrick Ohlsson's historic victory there in 1970.

WARSAW, Poland -- Kevin Kenner, a Peabody Institute graduate, received the top prize awarded in the 12th international Frederic Chopin Piano Competition early today.But in an unprecedented decision, the jury of international musical luminaries decided no to award a first prize in the prestigious competition. Mr. Kenner, 27, was judged the best contestant and awarded the second prize.[The Associated Press reported that the decision to not award a first prize was apparently based on the belief that the competitors performed with technical skill but not genius.