Kevin Day
Name
Kevin Day
Bio
An American composer whose music has been “characterized by propulsive, syncopated rhythms, colorful orchestration, and instrumental virtuosity,” (Robert Kirzinger, Boston Symphony Orchestra) Kevin Day (b. 1996) has quickly emerged as one of the leading young voices in the world of music composition today. Day was born in Charleston, West Virginia and is a native of Arlington, Texas. His father was a prominent hip-hop producer in the late-1980s in Southern California, and his mother was a sought-after gospel singer from West Virginia, singing alongside the likes of Mel Torme and Kirk Franklin. Kevin Day is a composer, conductor, producer, and multi-instrumentalist on tuba, euphonium, jazz piano and more, whose music often intersects between the worlds of jazz, minimalism, Latin music, fusion, and contemporary classical idioms.
A winner of the BMI Student Composer Award and other honors, Day has composed over 200 works, and has had numerous performances throughout the United States, Russia, Austria, Australia, Taiwan, South Africa, and Japan. His works have been programmed by major orchestras and wind bands including the Boston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, and the UT Wind Ensemble, and several top military bands. He was also selected as the 3rd Prize winner of the 2020 New Classics International Young Composer Contest of the Moscow Conservatory. His works have also been performed at Carnegie Hall, Rachmaninov Hall (Russia), The Midwest Clinic, TMEA, and other major venues. Day has collaborated with the likes of Jens Lindemann, Demondrae Thurman, Steven Cohen, and Jeremy Lewis on concertos for their respective instruments, as well as chamber ensembles like One Found Sound, Axiom Brass, Ensemble Dal Niente, The Puerto Rican Trombone Ensemble, The Zenith Saxophone Quartet, The Tesla Quartet, and many more. He has been mentored by composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Frank Ticheli, John Mackey, William Owens, Julie Giroux, Marcos Balter, Anthony Cheung, Matthew Evan Taylor, and Valerie Coleman.
Day is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where he is studying composition with Lansing McLoskey, Charles Norman Mason, and Dorothy Hindman, as well as jazz piano with Shelly Berg. Day holds a Master of Music in Composition Degree from the University of Georgia, where he studied with composers Peter Van Zandt Lane, Emily Koh, and conductor Cynthia Johnston Turner. He received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Tuba/Euphonium Performance from Texas Christian University (TCU), where he studied tuba and euphonium with Richard Murrow and composition primarily with Neil Anderson-Himmelspach. His works are published with Murphy Music Press, Dev Music Publishing, Cimarron Music, and Kevin Day Music. Day currently serves as the Vice President for the Millennium Composers Initiative and is an alumnus of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America.
A winner of the BMI Student Composer Award and other honors, Day has composed over 200 works, and has had numerous performances throughout the United States, Russia, Austria, Australia, Taiwan, South Africa, and Japan. His works have been programmed by major orchestras and wind bands including the Boston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, and the UT Wind Ensemble, and several top military bands. He was also selected as the 3rd Prize winner of the 2020 New Classics International Young Composer Contest of the Moscow Conservatory. His works have also been performed at Carnegie Hall, Rachmaninov Hall (Russia), The Midwest Clinic, TMEA, and other major venues. Day has collaborated with the likes of Jens Lindemann, Demondrae Thurman, Steven Cohen, and Jeremy Lewis on concertos for their respective instruments, as well as chamber ensembles like One Found Sound, Axiom Brass, Ensemble Dal Niente, The Puerto Rican Trombone Ensemble, The Zenith Saxophone Quartet, The Tesla Quartet, and many more. He has been mentored by composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Frank Ticheli, John Mackey, William Owens, Julie Giroux, Marcos Balter, Anthony Cheung, Matthew Evan Taylor, and Valerie Coleman.
Day is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where he is studying composition with Lansing McLoskey, Charles Norman Mason, and Dorothy Hindman, as well as jazz piano with Shelly Berg. Day holds a Master of Music in Composition Degree from the University of Georgia, where he studied with composers Peter Van Zandt Lane, Emily Koh, and conductor Cynthia Johnston Turner. He received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Tuba/Euphonium Performance from Texas Christian University (TCU), where he studied tuba and euphonium with Richard Murrow and composition primarily with Neil Anderson-Himmelspach. His works are published with Murphy Music Press, Dev Music Publishing, Cimarron Music, and Kevin Day Music. Day currently serves as the Vice President for the Millennium Composers Initiative and is an alumnus of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America.
