John Kersey is the winner of many international awards for his work in music and is particularly known for his pioneering work in researching and bringing unknown nineteenth-century piano music to a wider public through concerts and recordings. He is author of a major series of premiére recordings called "Romantic Discoveries", consisting of over fifty nineteenth-century works which are available on compact disc via his website. He has given the British concert and recorded premiéres of works by Alkan and S.S. Wesley, among others, and his work has been featured on American and Dutch radio.

In 2002, he was the first individual British winner of the Medal of Honour for Science and Art of the Austrian Albert Schweitzer Society, one of the most prestigious of European cultural prizes, which counts among its past recipients the distinguished American composer Richard Nanes. In the same year, John Kersey became the first non-German to win the Friedrich Silcher Medal in Bronze of the Friedrich Silcher Vocalists' Foundation, Hessen, Germany. He has been honoured by the Hungarian State, being appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St George, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. He has received honorary fellowships from music colleges and societies of musicians in the UK, as well as several honorary doctorates from universities around the world.

His professional Purcell Room début at the age of seventeen led to invitations to give concerts in both the UK and continental Europe, and he has since performed not only as piano soloist and collaborative artist, but also as an organist and continuo harpsichordist. His current performing schedule includes both solo recitals in the UK and a series of concerts with the mezzo-soprano Sarah Tyler. In June, the duo gave the public premiére of Jonathan Dove's new song-cycle 'All the Future Days' to poems by Ursula Vaughan Williams, and several more performances of the work are planned for the coming season.

John Kersey graduated with a dozen prizes as the top pianist of his year from the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Yu Chun-Yee and was later elected a Junior Fellow. As well as his work as a performer, he is also active as a music critic and educational consultant.