Jason Kennedy is a freelance musician from Los Angeles. He has played with many orchestras
throughout California, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Opera Project,
Santa Monica Symphony, Redlands Symphony, Sequoia Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, Crown
City Symphony, California Philharmonic, Jacaranda Music, Thousand Oaks Philharmonic,
and many others.
During his time at Cal. State Northridge, Jason studied with Kimaree Gilad, was a
recipient of the Les Hershberger Oboe Scholarship, and was a substitute musician for
the American Youth Symphony. While at CSUN, Jason also won First Prize and 1st Runner
Up for two of the school’s solo competitions, as well as Grand Prize for the Lansum
International Music Competition. After his Bachelors of Music degree was completed,
Jason then traveled to the Midwest, to do graduate work at Michigan State University
under the tutelage of Jan Eberle. Ultimately, Jason decided to get a Masters Degree
from the University of Southern California under the teaching of Joel Timm, where
he received a woodwind scholarship, was awarded a Winds and Percussion Dept Award,
and held the Principal Oboe chair of the Young Musician Foundation’s Debut Orchestra
for two years. Jason also had the pleasure to be hand selected, via audition, to perform
Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin with the USC Symphony; he was also asked to be an assistant
professor, where he taught oboe lessons to non-music majors.
Jason Kennedy has also participated in numerous summer festivals including 2 Hidden
Valley Music Seminars (oboe with Elaine Douvas; and English horn with Thomas Stacy
and Robert Walters), Philadelphia International Music Fesitval (English horn with
Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia), and others. He has also taken multiple extracurricular
private lessons with Eugene Izotov and Marion Kuszyk.
Additionally, Jason has also experienced a wide variety of gigs throughout Los Angeles.
One time he was asked to play ‘I got you babe’ by Sonny and Cher for a private Malibu
yacht club, and he has also been able to play with a Russian group called the LA Balalaika
Orchestra where the orchestra is made up of balalaikas instead of violas and celli.
At another time Jason also got the opportunity to record for Sean “P. Diddy” Combs
for one of his collaboration albums!
Since the onset of 2020, Jason was approached by a few colleagues to consider becoming
an oboe doubler for musicals that they contracted for. They expressed that he need
only learn the clarinet and some tenor saxophone. Although a bit hesitant at first
and a little encouragement from his faithful wife and clarinetist, Shaniee, he decided
to embark on the new journey. Since 2021, Jason has played for many different musicals
that have even gone beyond the atypical oboe doubles. As he always likes to say, “if
you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to want some milk to go with it!” Once he learned
the clarinet the colleagues asked, “can you play flute, yet?” So far he has performed
on Oboe, English horn, flute, piccolo, alto-tenor-bari saxes, recorder, chromatic
harmonica, and of course the clarinet and bass clarinet!
Jason has spent two summer seasons in southern Utah playing at Tuacahn Center of the
Arts, where he was the principal oboe and English horn musician in the pit orchestra.
Jason is married to Shaniee Kennedy, another freelance musician who has been his best
friend since their time together at CSUN. Shaniee and Jason have a tabby cat named
Samson who can be a hunter, act inquisitive, or just be plain cantankerous… The newest
addition is their pride and joy, Savannah, a beautiful baby girl.
- Oboe
- English horn
- Reedmaking
- Woodwind doubling in Musicals
