BIO

As his multifaceted international career unfolds, Grammy and Emmy Awards winning violinist Nick Kendall reimagines and reinvents how a traditional violin virtuoso can transform the music world without boundaries.

Nick is a founding member of the internationally acclaimed, genre-busting string band Time for Three (TF3) – in addition to his solo concert career. In all his endeavors, he is a restless innovator in shaping how modern audiences perceive, appreciate, and enjoy music and music-making. He co-founded and plays in the artist-driven East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), and, in 2020, he became Artist in Residence at New York’s Lincoln Center, where he unveiled his Residency event series in summer 2021. Since then he presented more than twenty artists in his Residency events on the iconic Lincoln Center’s Plaza, the Center’s Jaffe Drive, and in the three-story high glass Atrium of Alice Tully Hall. In fall 2022, Nick joined Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields for their South American tour as the Orchestra’s guest leader.

In his career as a soloist and with TF3 and ECCO, Nick has performed at Carnegie Hall, new David Geffen Hall and many venues across the Lincoln Center campus in New York City, NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, Schleswig Holstein Festival outside Hamburg, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Davies Hall in San Francisco, BBC Proms in London, Ravinia Festival, Melbourne’s Hamer Hall, Wiener Musikverein, Marlboro Music Festival, Sydney Opera House, Hyogo Performing Arts Center outside Osaka, Dvořák Hall at Prague’s Rudolfinum, Hong Kong Cultural Center, and an array of sports arenas across Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Luxembourg as one of the featured artists on the touring super-show “Night of the Proms”.

He has shared the stage with Joshua Bell, Branford Marsalis, Christoph Eschenbach, Joshua Radin, Keith Lockhart, Alisa Weilerstein, Michael Tilson Thomas, Jake Shimabukuro, Aoife O'Donovan, Marin Alsop, Chris Thile, Xian Zhang, James Gaffigan, Krzysztof Urbański, Chris Brubeck – who composed a jazz-inspired improvised violin concerto for Nick, Swiss pop/soul star Stefanie Heinzmann, the legendary Scottish rock band Simple Minds, the Late Show Band leader Louis Cato and singer-songwriter Danielle Ponder. In 2023, Nick and TF3 appeared in a new entertainment format event JammJam alongside Recording Academy nominees Big Freedia, Tank and the Bangas, Cimafunk, and Ibrahim Maalouf.

In 2021, Nick and TF3 wrote and performed the musical score – working virtually, during the Covid-19 pandemic with longtime friend and fellow collaborator, singer songwriter Ben Sollee – for the soundtrack of “Land”, actress Robin Wright’s feature film debut as a director. Produced by Big Beach, and distributed through Focus Features, “Land” premiered at the 2021 edition of the Sundance Film Festival.

Emblematic of Nick’s diverse artistic expressions are special projects that include – in addition to original film scoring and recording new music by living composers – co-writing, producing, and performing on pop albums. Besides co-composing the “Land” soundtrack and releasing the Grammy winning recording “Letters for the Future” (Deutsche Grammophon, TF3 and the Philadelphia Orchestra presenting new commissions by Jennifer Hidgon and Kevin Puts), Nick also performs on the latest release of R&B superstar Summer Walker's hit record “Still Over It” (Interscope, 2021).

Nick’s love for music, which began when he first picked up a violin at the age of three, is rooted in the family tradition: his grandfather – the renowned violin pedagogue John Kendall – brought the Suzuki method from Japan to the United States in the 1960s. Nick began his music education as a Suzuki kid and mastered his professional skills and musicianship at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music.

Nick's commitment to his art and craft, as a communicator and caretaker, goes beyond his work as an active performing artist. Designed to inspire young people to revel in the exhilaration of music making, his programming for young people renews the teaching tradition of his grandfather while tapping the source of joy he himself discovered in his earliest experiences as a musician. Nick has brought his kids’ concerts “Listen up: Music is a Language!” to various communities throughout the United States, including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony’s 2013-14 season of Young People's Concerts at the Kennedy Center, and Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2022-23 season of School Concerts at Verizon Hall.

As his multifaceted international career unfolds, Grammy and Emmy Awards winning violinist Nick Kendall reimagines and reinvents how a traditional violin virtuoso can transform the world of music without boundaries.

Nick is a founding member of the Grammy and Emmy Awards winning, internationally acclaimed string band Time for Three (TF3), in addition to his solo concert career. In all his endeavors, he is a restless innovator in shaping how modern audiences perceive, engage, and enjoy music and music-making. He co-founded and plays in the artist-driven East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), and, in 2020, he became Artist in Residence at New York’s Lincoln Center, where he unveiled his Residency event series – a musical passport into this renowned performing arts complex – in summer 2021.

“As a gateway to Lincoln Center, I curate my Residency events as unique musical collaborations connecting artists and their audiences in surprising and intimate settings.” Nick says. “Our presentations are dynamic reimaginings of the physical space and the experiences within, thoughtfully engaging our communities of music lovers.”

In July 2021, as his inaugural Residency event, Nick produced “READY, SET, SING!”, presenting the Young People's Chorus of New York City and its founder and creative director Francisco Nuñez. The following month, Nick premiered the four-night RESIDENCY SERIES AT JAFFE DRIVE - an informal, improvised space in the porte cochere beneath Lincoln Center Plaza’s grand stair - sparking fresh collaborations from like-minded artists across the musical spectrum.

In December 2022, he transformed the three-story high Alice Tully Hall’s glass Atrium into a performance space for a HOLIDAYS PROGRAM, which united the singer-songwriter Danielle Ponder, the Late Show Band leader Louis Cato in ensemble with the young singers of Young People’s Chorus of New York in their second appearance in Nick’s series at Lincoln Center.

In his career as a soloist and with TF3 and ECCO, Nick has performed at Carnegie Hall, the new David Geffen Hall and many venues across the Lincoln Center campus in New York City, NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Schleswig Holstein Festival outside Hamburg, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Davies Hall in San Francisco, BBC Proms in London, Ravinia Festival, Melbourne’s Hamer Hall, Wiener Musikverein, Marlboro Music Festival, Sydney Opera House, Hyogo Performing Arts Center outside Osaka, Dvořák Hall at Prague’s Rudolfinum, Hong Kong Cultural Center, and an array of sports arenas across Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Luxembourg as one of the featured artists on the touring super-show “Night of the Proms”. In fall 2022, Nick joined Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields for their South American tour as the Orchestra’s guest leader.

Nick has shared the stage with Joshua Bell, Branford Marsalis, Christoph Eschenbach, Joshua Radin, Keith Lockhart, Alisa Weilerstein, Michael Tilson Thomas, Jake Shimabukuro, Aoife O'Donovan, Marin Alsop, Chris Thile, Xian Zhang, James Gaffigan, Krzysztof Urbański, Chris Brubeck – who composed a jazz-inspired improvised violin concerto for Nick, Swiss pop/soul star Stefanie Heinzmann, and the legendary Scottish rock band Simple Minds. In 2023, Nick and TF3 appeared in a new entertainment format event JammJam alongside Recording Academy nominees Big Freedia, Tank and the Bangas, Cimafunk, and Ibrahim Maalouf.

In 2021, Nick and TF3 wrote and performed the musical score – working virtually, during the Covid - 19 pandemic with longtime friend and fellow collaborator, singer songwriter Ben Sollee – for the soundtrack of “Land”, actress Robin Wright’s feature film debut as a director. Produced by Big Beach, and distributed through Focus Features, “Land” premiered at the 2021 edition of the Sundance Film Festival.

Emblematic of Nick’s diverse artistic expressions are special projects that include – in addition to original film scoring and recording new music by living composers – co-writing, producing, and performing on pop albums. Besides co-composing the “Land” soundtrack and releasing the Grammy winning recording “Letters for the Future” (Deutsche Grammophon, TF3 and the Philadelphia Orchestra presenting new commissions by Jennifer Hidgon and Kevin Puts), Nick also performs on the latest release of R&B superstar Summer Walker's hit record, “Still Over It” (Interscope, 2021).

“Fun” is not a concept that serious violinists often champion. For Nick, that’s where music begins.

“Throughout all my experiences, and from my earliest memories, playing the violin was fun – a way to release energy, a nurturing tool to shape creativity, and an amazing way to practice forms of discipline and organization.”

Nick’s love for music – which began when he first picked up a violin at the age of three – is rooted in the family tradition. His grandfather, the renowned violin pedagogue John Kendall, brought the Suzuki method from Japan to the United States in the 1960’s. Both Nick and his sister, Yumi Kendall, Assistant Principal Cello in the Philadelphia Orchestra, began their music training as Suzuki kids.

As a teenager, Nick’s passion for performing and reaching diverse audiences led him to the streets of Washington, D.C., where he played for lunch money in the company of his trash can bucket band. A few years later, he was forming pick-up rock bands during his student days at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, while making concert debuts as a violinist in the world’s most prestigious concert halls.

Collective action both drives and reflects Nick’s creative spirit.

He co-founded TF3 – which includes Charles Yang (violin, vocals) and Ranaan Meyer (double bass, vocals) – to realize a fresh dimension of his creative ambitions. Standing with TF3 at the busy intersection of Americana, modern pop, and classical music, Nick draws inspiration from defying the boundaries of genre and style, while reaching and engaging with new communities of audiences.

TF3 has collaborated on their original songwriting with producers Femke Weidema, George Moore, and two-time Grammy winner Liz Rose. The group commissioned concertos from Pulitzer Prize winning composers Jennifer Higdon, William Bolcom, and Kevin Puts, as well as Chris Brubeck – for the trio to perform as soloists with symphony orchestras.

TF3’s most recent recording projects include the first recording of new concertos by Kevin Puts (“Contact”) and Jennifer Higdon (“Concerto 4-3”) with the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the musical direction of Maestra Xian Zhang – the recording was released by Deutsche Grammophon in summer 2022 and received two Grammy Awards: for Best Classical Instrumental Solo and Best Contemporary Classical Composition (“Contact” by Kevin Puts).

While at the Curtis Institute of Music, Nick co-founded the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), a self-governing, conductor-less community of artists whose membership include young soloists and musicians from the world's finest orchestras and chamber groups. Such a democratic ideal in classical music is not unique but it is unusual: each member of ECCO is an equal, with a voice in every step of the artistic process, from programming to performance. ECCO’s mission is to create compelling musical experiences, in the widest range of venues, that speak to all audiences – regardless of age or socioeconomic background.

Nick's commitment to his art and craft, as a communicator and caretaker, goes beyond his work as an active performing artist. Designed to inspire young people to revel in the exhilaration of music making, his programming for young people renews the teaching tradition of his grandfather while tapping the source of joy he himself discovered in his earliest experiences as a musician. Nick has brought his kids’ concerts “Listen up: Music is a Language!” to various communities throughout the United States, including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony’s 2013-14 season of Young People's Concerts at the Kennedy Center, and Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2022-23 season of School Concerts at Verizon Hall.