Friday, October 22, 2010

AFRO: 'Filmmaker Shares Father’s Inspiring Story with World'


[Nina Kennedy, film maker; Matthew Kennedy, classical pianist (Photo from Facebook.com)]

October 21, 2010
“Even as a child, music was a critical part of Matthew Kennedy’s life. At 4 he played his first piano piece and starred in his own radio program by 12 in Macon, Ga. His exceptional musical gifts brought Kennedy from the deeply segregated South to New York City, where he studied at the Julliard School and performed at the Apollo Theater and Carnegie Hall. But his ultimate music home was at Tennessee’s Fisk University, where he became director of the internationally acclaimed Fisk Jubilee Singers.”

“The Augusta, Ga.-born musician mastered Rachmaninoff’s signature piano style, which helped him land a coveted spot at Julliard School of Music. But as Kennedy prepares to launch an international career, a Julliard professor urges him to return to the South and inspire people of his own race. That return brought Kennedy to Fisk University, a historically Black school founded at the end of the Civil War to educate freed slaves.”

“As fate would have it, the Fisk Jubilee Singers needed a pianist when Kennedy arrived in Nashville. Armed with his Juilliard training, Matthew added his classical repertoire to the programs of the singers. The group traveled and performed all over the world, before adoring fans, diplomats, and royalty. They were welcomed and embraced in the hallowed concert halls of Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean and South America. In the middle of the realization of his dream of international success, the nation is suddenly at war, and Matthew is called to serve his country in a segregated U.S. Army. The documentary continues with coverage of Kennedy’s draft, return to music and life legacy, all which culminate to create what the musician’s daughter calls 'an amazing American story.”





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