PB Symphony Sets Seventh 'Encore' Concert

Kevin Kenner
(Credit Christian Steiner)

(Press Release) West Palm Beach, Fla. (September 16, 2024) – Encore! Encore! Due to popular demand, Palm Beach Symphony is thrilled to celebrate Classical Music Month with the announcement that they are extending the 2024-2025 Season by adding a seventh concert called “The Encore”. This stand-alone concert is in addition to the six performances in the Masterworks Series that was previously announced. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Park Foundation, “The Encore” will feature pianist Kevin Kenner who will take the Dreyfoos Concert Hall stage at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach on Monday, May 19, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. 

Proclaimed by The Washington Post as "a major talent … an artist whose intellect, imagination and pianism speak powerfully and eloquently," Kenner will celebrate his 62nd birthday with a performance of Frédéric Chopin’s “Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21.” The piece is a lyrical introduction by the then 20-year-old to the world of his virtuosity at the keyboard and his genius at composition.

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“We are very excited to bring Kevin Kenner to perform with the Palm Beach Symphony under the outstanding leadership of Maestro Gerard Schwarz,” said Patrick Park, Park Foundation, Board of Directors. “Kevin Kenner is a world class pianist whose style is reminiscent of Rubinstein and Horowitz. [He is] one of the great pianists with a beautiful and rich sound from the 19th century.”
 
Recognized as one of the top Chopin interpreters of our time, Kenner was the top prize winner in the 1990 Chopin Competition in Warsaw and was awarded top prizes in the Tchaikovsky Competition and the Terrance Judd Competition, among others. He has performed as a soloist with world-class orchestras including the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Brussels, the NHK Symphony of Japan and in the U.S. with the principal orchestras of San Francisco, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, New Jersey, Rochester, Baltimore, St. Paul and many others. A distinguished recording artist, he has had his interpretations of works by Paderewski and Chopin picked as recordings of the month by Gramophone magazine. After teaching for more than a decade at London’s Royal College of Music, Kenner accepted a post at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music where he is also artistic director and founder of the Frost Chopin Academy, an annual summer academy that directly connects talented students of Chopin’s music with some of the world’s most respected Chopin specialists.
 
Led by Palm Beach Symphony Music Director and Conductor Gerard Schwarz, the evening will also feature performances of Johannes Brahms’ boisterous “Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80” which musically celebrates students' youthful pursuits over their academic duties, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s landmark “Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67.”

The complete 2024-2025 Season schedule is available at palmbeachsymphony.org. Individual tickets for the concerts are on sale now. Concert tickets range in price from $25 to $95. Season subscribers will have the option to add this seventh show to their package for a nominal fee. The concert can also be included in a build-your-own mini flex package. Tickets may be purchased online at PalmBeachSymphony.org, by phone at (561) 281-0145 and at the Palm Beach Symphony Box Office weekdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at 700 South Dixie Highway, Suite 100, West Palm Beach.
 
Proud sponsors of Palm Beach Symphony include Cindy Anderson and Jerome Canty, Mrs. James N. Bay, Carol and Harold Baxter, C. Kenneth and Laura Baxter Foundation, Inc., Arthur & Mara Benjamin Foundation, JoAnne Berkow, Kathy Lee Bickham and John Bickham, Leslie Rogers Blum, Yvonne S. Boice Trust and Alfred Zucaro, Jeffrey and Tina Bolton, James R. Borynack and Adolfo Zaralegui / FINDLAY Galleries, Braman Motorcars, Jerome J. Claeys, Thomas and Carol Bruce, CIBC Private Wealth, Amy and John Collins, The Colony Hotel, CORPGOV, Suzanne Mott Dansby, The David Minkin Foundation, Jacqueline and Ray K. Farris, Mary and Will Demory, Willard H. Dow and Kelly Winter, Dr. Richard and Diane Farber, Bill and Kem Frick/The Frick Foundation, Inc., Robert and Cindy, Gerry Gibian and Marjorie Yashar, Paul and Sandra Goldner, Douglas and Jo Gressette, Steel Grove Capital, Irwin and Janet Gusman, Walter Harper, Thomas E. Harvey & Cathleen P. Black Foundation, Doris Hastings Foundation, Carol S. and Joseph Andrew Hays, John Herrick, Addison Hines Charitable Trust, George Hines, HSS Florida, IPO Edge, Charles and Ann Johnson/The C and A Johnson Family Foundation, Elaine Kay, Aban and Percy Kavasmaneck, Leonard and Norma Klorfine Foundation, The Kovner Foundation, Gary and Linda Lachman/The Lachman Family Foundation, Patricia Lambrecht/The Lambrecht Family Foundation, Lugano Diamonds, Donald C. McGraw Foundation, The Honorable Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, The McNulty Charitable Foundation, Tish Messinger, David Moscow, NetJets, Palm Beach Design Masters, Patrick and Milly Park/Park Foundation, Nancy and Ellis J. Parker, III, PNC Private Bank, Lois Pope, Provident Jewelry, Ari Rifkin/The Len-Ari Foundation, Dr. Martha Rodriguez and Dr. Jesus Perez-Mendez, Annette Urso Rickel Foundation, Karen Rogers, Ronald Rosenfeld, David Schafer, Seth Sprague Foundation, Robin B. Smith, Kimberly V. Strauss, Dodie and Manley Thaler and the Thaler/Howell Foundation, Don and Mary Thompson, Jerome and Carol Trautschold, Sieglinde Wikstrom/The Wikstrom Foundation, and The Ann Eden Woodward Foundation/James and Judy Woods. ​