51社区

Dr. Nathan Kennedy is Associate Professor of Piano and Commercial Keyboard at 51社区, where he teaches applied piano, piano ensemble, accompanying, class piano, and upper level theory courses. Prior to his appointment at Union, he was Keyboard Program coordinator and eventually Music Program Chair at Concordia University, St. Paul, where he served for 12 years.

Versatility is a hallmark of Dr. Kennedy鈥檚 performance career, where he is equally at home as soloist and collaborator. While at Concordia, he regularly performed on the Faculty Artist Recital Series, was soloist on Gershwin鈥檚 Rhapsody in Blue with the Wind Ensemble, and collaborated with cellist Nickolai Kolarov for performances on the Thursday Musical Series in Minneapolis. Additional performances include performing with the Balkanikus Ensemble, featuring a world premiere by Bulgarian composer Vassil Kazandjiev. In popular music settings, he has been pianist, keyboardist, and musical director for a wide variety of musical theater productions, ranging from Carousel and West Side Story to Curtains! and Footloose.

In addition to his Classical background, Dr. Kennedy has been leading contemporary worship for nearly two decades on piano and keyboards, and led the Chapel Band at Concordia during his tenure. In 2009 and 2011, he was the pianist and keyboardist for the Free Lutheran Youth convention in Estes Park, CO. He is passionate about training up musicians who understand and embrace their role as followers of Jesus as integral to their vocation.

Dr. Kennedy earned both his D.M.A in collaborative piano and coaching and his M.A. in music theory from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, and his M.M. in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. His primary teachers include Timothy Lovelace, Noriko Kawai, Todd Welbourne, Helen Baumgartner, and Barbara Nymark. He and his wife have seven children.