Violinist, Dylan Kennedy is the founder and director of the Keuka Lake Music Festival. The first ever recipient of three Entrepreneurial Musicianship awards from the New England Conservatory, Kennedy has established himself as a leading entrepreneur of his generation. As a performer, he has been praised for his “exceptionally well crafted dynamics and phrasing” and for “not shying away from the challenges” (Sarasota Harold Tribune).

Kennedy has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, Penfield Symphony Orchestra, Hochstein Alumni Orchestra, Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra, Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra, and at Bowling Green State University. Kennedy has won the Albright Award at the Rochester Philharmonic League Young Artist Competition, the David Hochstein Recital Competition, and gave live performances on the radio show ‘Live from Hochstein’ on WXXI in three consecutive years. He was also awarded 3rd prize in the Lewisville Lake Symphony International String Competition, and was a quarter-finalist in the Prague Spring International Competition.

As concertmaster, Kennedy has led the NEC Chamber Orchestra, Moritzburg Festival Orchestra in Germany, CIM Orchestra, and Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and currently serves as Principal 2nd Violin of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. A dedicated chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists such as Jerome Lowenthal, Joseph Silverstein, Martin Chalifour, and Peter Lloyd, and has been a guest artist with the Boston Chamber Music Society. He has attended and performed at several summer music festivals, including the Sarasota Music Festival, National Arts Centre of Ottawa Young Artists’ Program, Music Academy of the West, and the Meadowmount School of Music.

Kennedy completed his Master’s Degree at the New England Conservatory under Professor Ayano Ninomiya, and his Bachelor’s Degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music under Professor Ivan Zenaty, with minors in Economics and Business Management from Case Western Reserve University. A native of Rochester, NY, he previously studied with the late Distinguished Kilbourn Professor, Zvi Zeitlin, at the Eastman School of Music.