John Kennedy has forged a diverse musical career centered on new music performance and advocacy, through work as a composer, conductor, performer, and educator. Regarded as one of America's foremost proponents of new music, he has worked closely with some of the leading composers of our time, including Robert Ashley, John Cage, Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Gian Carlo Menotti, and Steve Reich.

Kennedy has developed a unique compositional voice which draws upon experimental traditions but which has proven extremely appealing to audiences and musicians. His works include opera, cantata, orchestral, and chamber music, with numerous vocal works and songs. His compositions have received performances throughout the world, including at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Santa Fe Stages, and San Francisco’s Other Minds Festival. In recent years he has been sought as a conductor of music ranging from Mozart to Stravinsky and the present, serving as a guest conductor with organizations including the Lincoln Center Festival, New York City Ballet, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Arena Stage (Washington DC), the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and others.

Kennedy lived in New York for 15 years; in 1987 he founded the ensemble Essential Music, which presented over 100 premieres of new work and toured throughout Europe and Japan. He founded SFNM (Santa Fe New Music) when he moved to Santa Fe in 1999, providing deep community immersion of new music through wide collaboration with museums and other performing organizations. SFNM has an annual concert series, a biannual festival, has launched the nation's first New Music Youth Ensemble, and directs the New Mexico Young Composers' Project with awards for children 11-18.