24-25 Program Book - Flipbook - Page 25
Kenneth Osowski
PIANO
Pianist KENNETH OSOWSKI maintains an active
career as both performer and educator. In the summer
of 2024, he was appointed to the piano faculty of
Northern Arizona University’s Kitt School of Music.
Osowski previously served as Associate Professor of
Music and Director of Piano and Music Theory Studies
at York College of Pennsylvania, where he also taught
courses in Jazz History, History of Rock & Roll, and
Innovations in Music & Culture since 1900. He has
also served on the faculty of the YCPrep Community
Music School and as Artistic Co-Director of the York
Summer Music Academy. Prior to his appointment
at York College, Osowski served on the music theory
faculties of the Peabody Conservatory and Johns
Hopkins University. He earned a doctoral degree from the Peabody Conservatory, a
master’s degree from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a bachelor’s degree from
Yale University.
Osowski has served as Principal Pianist of the York Symphony, Collaborative Pianist
for the York County Senior Honors Choir, and he also has performed frequently as
orchestral pianist with the Harrisburg and Lancaster Symphony Orchestras. His
festival appearances include Yellow Barn and the Tanglewood Music Center. As a
soloist, Osowski has appeared with the Reno Chamber Orchestra, the Hershey
Symphony, and the University of Nevada Orchestra. A dedicated chamber musician,
he has collaborated with the Jupiter, Lydian, and Parker String Quartets, Mobius
Percussion, the Mark Morris Dance Group, and Apollo Chamber Players, with whom
he presented the regional premiere (2019) of Florence Price’s Piano Quintet in A
minor. Other recent highlights include solo and collaborative performances with the
York College Music Department in Prague and Budapest (2023).
Osowski was the Founder and Artistic Director of the York Chamber Players, the
faculty ensemble-in-residence at York College of Pennsylvania. The group presented
its inaugural concert in February 2015, a multi-media, multi-disciplinary program
entitled “The Music of Fin-de-Siècle Vienna in its Cultural Context”. This event
featured music by Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Mahler, and Strauss alongside the
psychoanalytic theories of Freud and the art of Klimt and Schiele. The ensemble
has since performed music ranging from Telemann to Reich. Osowski frequently
performs on Baltimore’s Evolution Concert Series, which is devoted to contemporary
music by living composers. He has recently worked with and performed music by
several distinguished composers, including Pulitzer Prize winners David Lang and
John Luther Adams; Judah Adashi, Martin Bresnick, Christopher Cerrone, Bryce
Dessner, and Christopher Theofanidis. Osowski has been praised by the Baltimore
Sun for his “impressive skills” and “expert partnering”.
CLASSICAL SERIES STAR WARS AND THE PLANETS 25
