Basic
First Name:
Michael
Last Name:
Kannen
City:
Baltimore
State:
Maryland
Country:
USA
First Year:
1983
Last Year:
1985
Biography
Birthday:
3/24/1961
About:
This is what happened after leaving NEC: I somehow lucked into a teaching position at the University of Texas, El Paso and spent two wonderful years there. Having fallen in love with teaching and the academic life in general, I decided it would be wise to go back to school to get another degree. So off I went to Indiana University to work with Janos Starker. But, as fate would have it, after just a semester and a half there I was invited to join one of the best young string quartets in the country at that time, the Meliora Quartet. I had a transformative experience playing all over the world with them and ended up, after the quartet broke up, marrying the violist, Maria Lambros! Talk about fate and transformative! We moved to New York so that Maria could join another quartet (the Ridge Quartet) and I freelanced for a few years until, fate again, I met the people with whom I would form the Brentano Quartet. That group was successful beyond my wildest dreams and was the musical experience of a lifetime. Seven years later, and now a father, it was time for another change. The position of Director of Chamber Music at the Peabody Conservatory became available and I was lucky enough to land the job. I've been there ever since (starting my 18th year in 2019). My two years with Larry were a turning point for me. He set me on a true cello path, of course. But he also showed me how all the things I was interested in could, and must, be brought to bear on my music making- literature, art, movies, sports, everything. And, crucially, he put the thought in my head that I, like him, might have some affinity for administration. My job at Peabody has allowed me to have it all- run a department, do a lot of significant teaching, and continue to play the cello at a high level. Clearly, he was the perfect role model. Maria and I continue our personal and professional collaborations and our son, Daniel, lives in San Francisco where he is an audio electronics engineer at Dolby Laboratories.
Current Primary Activity(ies):
Director of Chamber Music, Peabody Conservatory. Cellist of the Cooperstown Quartet.
Education:
NEC
Other Teachers:
Orlando Cole, Janos Starker, important chamber music coaches Felix Galimir, Misha Schneider, Paul Katz, Donald Weilerstein, and important mentors Paula Robison, Sergiu Luca and Leon Fleisher