He grew up in Hawaii and his family moved to Philadelphia when he began studying at the Curtis Institute of Music, at age 13.
He performed in Carnegie Hall on May 18, 1996 as part of the Hawaii Music Awards, and travelled back to Honolulu the next day to place first in the final round of the International Chopin Competition of the Pacific.
He was a Laureate of the 2013 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels where he performed in the final round with the National Orchestra of Belgium conducted by Marin Alsop.
He has appeared in recital and chamber music in such venues as Teatro Caio Melisso (Spoleto, Italy), Teatro Municipal (Vina del Mar, Chile), Yomiuri Otemachi Hall (Tokyo, Japan), Kennedy Center Terrace Theater (Washington D.C.), Seoul Arts Center (Seoul, Korea), Hong Kong City Hall (Hong Kong), Salle Cortot (Paris, France), Theatre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels, Belgium), Palacio Nacional de Queluz (Lisbon, Portugal), Tokyo Opera City Recital Hall (Tokyo, Japan), Chopin Society (Warsaw, Poland), Alice Tully Hall (New York City, USA), International Piano Series (Charleston, SC), Katsushika Symphony Hills (Tokyo, Japan), Hilbert Circle Theatre (Indianapolis, IN), Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon, Portugal), Orvis Auditorium (Honolulu, HI), California MTA Convention (San Jose, CA), Minami-Azabu Centre Hall (Tokyo, Japan), Togouchi Fureai Center (Akiota, Japan), Kresge Recital Hall (Pittsburgh, PA), Rantokaku Art Museum (Kure, Japan), Cine Teatro Municipal (Treinta y Tres, Uruguay), Steinway Hall (New York City, USA), Munetsugu Hall (Nagoya, Japan), Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels, Belgium), Hawaii Theater (Honolulu, HI), Oto no Izumi Hall (Oita, Japan), Flagey Studio 4 (Brussels, Belgium), Yamaha Hall (Tokyo, Japan), Teatro del Lago (Frutillar, Chile), Civic Cultural Hall (Morioka, Japan), Alumni Concert Hall (Pittsburgh, PA), Gallery Core Hall (Takasaki, Japan), Academy of the Arts (Honolulu, HI), Mar-a-Lago (Palm Beach, FL), Perlman Music Program (Shelter Island, NY), Christ Church Cathedral (Indianapolis, IN), Takarayama Hall (Kagoshima, Japan), Teatro Larranaga (Paysandu, Uruguay), Tobata Civic Center (Kitakyushu, Japan), Sala dei Notari (Perugia, Italy), Sogo Hall (Saijo, Japan), Hotel del Lago (Punta del Este, Uruguay)([13] He is currently represented in Japan by Nippon Artists Management Inc.[14] Beginning in the fall of 2017, Kennard holds the position of Associate Professor of Piano at Stetson University's School of Music.
57 "Appassionata" that he played with "powerful and involved musicmaking"[16] Ruth Bingham of the Honolulu Advertiser said of his last-minute substitution for Van Cliburn Competition silver medalist Joyce Yang, playing the Grieg concerto with the Honolulu Symphony, that he displayed "a special affinity for quietly lyrical passages"[17]