A prolific recording artist with 58 solo CDs (in the Homemade series) to his credit (and additional 7 albums in the Masterpieces for Dance series) featuring many major works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Haydn, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Schubert and Schumann -- 700 tracks in all -- John Kane began taking piano lessons at age nine.  He has recorded the complete sonatas of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn & Schubert -- the only pianist to ever have done so.  He attended the Interlochen Arts Academy (IAA) and later Northwestern University (NU).

At IAA, he studied piano with Katherine Collier and won the Concerto Competition his Senior year (1976), performing the MacDowell Second Piano Concerto.  He was Salutatorian of his class, and received the Rensselaer Medal in Mathematics.   In October, 2000, John appeared as soloist with the IAA Orchestra, conducted by Matthew Hazelwood, in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488 (click here to listen to that complete live performance).

While at NU, he studied with the late Gui Mombaerts and the late John Browning, who was Artist-in-Residence from 1976-1981, during which time he gave 75 masterclasses.  Remaining a lifelong friend of Mr. Browning's, on May 8, 2002, Mr. Kane was in the small invited audience (which included 8 of 9 Justices) at the U.S. Supreme Court, at what would be John Browning's last public performance.

Throughout his time at NU, John Kane was active as a private teacher, and vocal & instrumental accompanist, working with students of many of the principal wind & string players of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra who were faculty members at NU.  In 1980, John won the Honors Competition (open only to seniors and graduate students, being the only pianist selected), and was soloist in Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto in a performance that was televised (as was an earlier masterclass with John Browning on that piece).   Click here for a brief audio excerpt from that masterclass.  He also participated in piano masterclasses with Jorge Bolet, Misha Dichter, Claude Frank, Lorin Hollander, Byron Janis, Andre Watts and many others.  In addition he attended numerous concerts by and  met Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Horowitz, Rudolph Serkin, and many other legendary performers.

Through the early 1980's, Mr. Kane was also a frequent solo, chamber music and orchestral performer, and leading dance accompanist in the Chicago area, including principal ballet accompanist at Gus Giordano's Dance School and Lyric Opera's Chicago City Ballet under Maria Tallchief, even playing some classes of the legendary George Balanchine when American Ballet Theatre visited Chicago.  John also entered numerous competitions (placing in the International Piano Recording Competition), culminating in his entry in the 1981 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, sponsored by Mr. Mombaerts and Mr. Browning.  However, not advancing, thus...

Thereafter, he began a career in business, starting at the bottom (entry-level bookkeeping position).  A few years later, at age 31, he became the youngest partner of a Big 6 management consulting practice (with regional responsibility for 8 states -- CA, AZ, NV, OR, WA, ID, HI & AK), and, as a Certified Management Consultant, advised more than 100 companies during the past 30 years, including one-third of the Fortune 100, representing many of the largest, most successful enterprises in the world.  Throughout North & South America, Europe & Asia, Mr. Kane has been engaged to assist global leaders in entertainment, consumer products, energy, manufacturing, financial services and other industries (see partial client list).

Over the years, as an amateur musician, he has occasionally performed live, such as soloist in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, conducted by Hal Weller, on July 4, 2000, as well as making numerous recordings of solo piano music, which are available online here!   In 2010, he created his youtube channel, containing dozens of video performances.   Mr. Kane's recordings have been broadcast on radio throughout the world and he has appeared in several radio and television programs.  

In 2016, he undertook the monumental task of recording all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas; remarkably completed within about 10 months, available now!  Previously, he recorded all 18 of Mozart's piano sonatas.  In 2023, he completed his recordings of all of Haydn's keyboard sonatas (54 in total) and all of the piano sonatas of Franz Schubert (16 total).

Among his many professional and philanthropic endeavors & affiliations, John Kane has, since 1992, been a Certified Management Consultant, Voting Member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (Grammys®), including membership in the Producers & Engineers Wing, and Trustee (now Emeritus) of the Interlochen Center for the Arts.