Friedrich Heinrich Kern

In 2011, Kern began to teach at New York University’s College of Arts & Science, and in 2017, he began to teach a composition class. It was there that he received his PhD in music theory and composition and was appointed director of the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society in 2016.

In 2014, Kern was appointed president of the League of Composers / International Society for Contemporary Music, the oldest organization for contemporary music in the United States, founded and based in New York City in 1923.

On July 24, 2018, Kern made his Mostly Mozart Festival debut with members of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. On July 25, 2018, Kern presented a late night recital, performing alongside pianist Emanuel Ax and Philipp Marguerre. Anthony Tommasini wrote in The New York Times that Kern showcased "the wonders of the modern glass harmonica"[9] at that concert. Earlier that evening, the "splendid soloists"[10] performed Mozart's Adagio & Rondo with two glass harmonicas and ensemble at David Geffen Hall for second evening in a row, an event critic Meche Kroop described as an "extraordinary state of shock, a pleasant shock."[11] Kern also made guest appearances during this time, appearing on Niklas Liepe's 2018 album, "The New Paganini Project".

Kern premiered his arrangement of Mozart's Adagio and Rondo for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello with leading members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Calidore String Quartet in May 2019.[12] He appeared with the same arrangement in Amsterdam in June 2019 with members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a joint concert with Pierre-Laurent Aimard.[13]

In January 2020, Kern performed the American premiere of Johann Friedrich Reichardt's "Rondeau for Glass Harmonica and Strings" with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.[14] The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb presented the first Croatian production of Gaetano Donizetti's original version of Lucia di Lammermoor with Glass Harmonica in February 2020, with Kern as soloist.[15] His first performance in Paris on March 13, 2020, at the Cité de la Musique was held without audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic but was recorded for broadcast by Radio France.[16] On March 25, 2023, Theater Kiel hosted the premier of a new ballet, "Flight of Fancy," choreographed by Wubkje Kuindersma, with Kern's music Reflections on a Dream for violin, glass harmonica and orchestra.[17]

Kern performs on piano, electric piano, synthesizers, and electronics. He plays several glass instruments, primarily built in the workshop of Sascha Reckert. His preferred glass instrument is the verrophone, most recently used in his appearances with Opera Philadelphia, Shanghai Symphony, and the Metropolitan Opera.[18]

• Official website
• Friedrich Heinrich Kern at The League of Composers/ISCM
• Inter-Note Published compositions
• Cecilia Music Concept Published arrangements