Rachel Barton Pine will discuss her Music by Black Composers project, and Jennifer Kennard will introduce MBC’s new collection for student flutists, produced with the NFA. The book contains beginner and elementary-level repertoire, and shares stories about the history of Black classical musicians. MBC books work to inspire Black students to feel a stronger connection to playing classical music, and this neglected but wonderful repertoire can expand the horizons of students of all ethnicities.
Rachel Barton Pine
- Biographical Information
Violinist Rachel Barton Pine performs as soloist with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the Chicago, Vienna, and Detroit symphony orchestras. She has worked with renowned conductors that include Teddy Abrams, Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Neeme Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, Erich Leinsdorf, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, Tito Muñoz, and John Nelson. As a chamber musician, Pine has performed with Jonathan Gilad, Clive Greensmith, Paul Neubauer, Jory Vinikour, William Warfield, Orion Weiss, and the Pacifica and Parker quartets.
Pine has recorded 40 acclaimed albums, many of which have hit the top of the charts. She has appeared on The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, PBS NewsHour, A Prairie Home Companion, and NPR’s Tiny Desk. In 1992, she became the only American and youngest person to win a gold medal at the 1992 J.S. Bach International Violin Competition in Germany.
Pine’s RBP Foundation assists young artists through its Instrument Loan Program and Grants for Education and Career, and runs the groundbreaking Music by Black Composers project, which was launched in 2001. She performs on the “ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat” Joseph Guarnerius “del Gesù” (Cremona 1742), on lifetime loan from her anonymous patron.
Jennifer Kennard, flute, completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Flute Performance at Michigan State University in 2006, where she served as a Teaching Assistant in inter-arts and humanities and was also a concerto soloist with the Michigan State University Philharmonic Orchestra. Dr. Kennard received her Master of Music degree in Flute Performance from Michigan State and her Bachelor of Music degree (magna cum laude) from the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam, in Education and Performance. Her teachers have included Richard Sherman, Ervin Monroe, Randy Bowman, and Kenneth Andrews.
Dr. Kennard is currently a Repertoire Specialist for Music by Black Composers, the chair of the National National Flute Association’s Special Publications Committee, and is on the faculty of Concordia University, Saint Paul. She has performed with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Chautauqua (NY), Grand Rapids (MI), Lansing (MI), and Jackson (MI) and West Michigan Symphony Orchestras, and has performed and taught throughout New York, Ohio, and Michigan. Additionally, she has served as the Assistant Principal Librarian of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She currently focuses on teaching, writing, and parenting.