Acclaimed for his “stirring, magnetic, and powerful” performances (Arts Hub), Sydney-born Nicholas Kennedy is among Australia’s most exciting young musicians. Nicholas made his concerto debut in 2014, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Kuring-Gai Philharmonic Orchestra. He has subsequently appeared in Germany, the United Kingdom, and throughout Australia. Highlights of the 2023 season included Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Sydney University Symphony Orchestra, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Modést Orchestra, and a solo recital for the Sydney Schubert Society. Nicholas’s competition successes include: Open Instrumental Winner of the Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition (2023); Winner of the Mary Greville Piano Scholarship (2017); Winner of the Nan Price Piano Award (2017); Runner-Up in the Glass Sellers’ Beethoven Prize, London (2019); Finalist in the John Allison Piano Scholarship (2018 and 2019), and Best Prelude and Fugue in the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition (2015). Besides performance, Nicholas is deeply engaged with music research, focussing on piano music of the nineteenth century and the intersection between analysis and praxis. An award-winning article on Chopin’s Fantasy Op. 49 has appeared in The Chopin Review, and in October 2023 he was a presenter at the international artistic research symposium, Performers(’) Present, in Singapore. An alumnus of the Rising Stars program, Nicholas completed his undergraduate studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, graduating with First Class Honours and the University Medal. He also holds a Master of Music with Distinction from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, where he won the Rose Lawrence Award for academic excellence. Nicholas’s principal piano teachers include Joan Havill, Clemens Leske, and Gerard Willems, and he has appeared in masterclasses with Richard Goode, Stephen Hough, Bernd Glemser, Robert McDonald, and others. Nicholas is currently a casual lecturer and staff pianist at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he has recently completed the Doctor of Philosophy. His debut album, featuring Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas, was released on the international Orpheus Classical label in 2021 and is available on all major streaming platforms.