Episode 57 - Kevin Day

Kevin Day is currently a student at Texas Christian University where he studies tuba, composes, and plays jazz piano. His recent works for band have been generating a great deal of buzz and he joins me to talk about his music and the beginning of what looks to be an exciting career. Topics: Being a part of John Mackey's booth at the Midwest Clinic and the story of how his piece Rocket Ship! came to be a part of Julie Giroux's honor band rotation. Growing up with two musical parents, singing in choir, and playing drums and piano as a child. Being published and distributed by Murphy Music and the process for having Kevin write a work for your band. Kevin's process for writing a new piece of music, some thoughts about how he has grown as a composer, and some tips for people who might want to start writing themselves. Links: Kevin Day Music Murphy Music Press Texas Christian University Maslanka: Symphony No. 4 Mackey: Hymn to a Blue Hour Kevin Day: Dancing Fire Biography: Kevin Day (b. 1996) is an American composer, conductor, and multi-instrumentalist from Arlington, Texas. Currently in his senior year at Texas Christian University, he will be graduating in December 2018 with a BM in Euphonium Performance and wishes to pursue his masters in music composition. Day has written over 100 compositions for solos, concert band, orchestra, chamber, film, and choral groups. His works have been premiered and heard across the United States, and he currently receives commissions in his emerging compositional career. Kevin Day is a winner of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Young Composers Competition, the Tribeca New Music Young Composer Competition, the Dallas Winds Fanfare Contest, a finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and a finalist of the Novus New Music Call for Scores Contest. He has also had pieces premiered and showcased at W.I.B.C, the NAfME All-Northwest Conference, TMEA, and the Midwest Clinic, and is the recipient of the 2016 W. Francis McBeth Student Musicianship Award from Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity. In addition to classical music, Day has composed music for two short films, A Partial Heart (2015) and The Broken Man (2017), which were premiered at the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. He has worked with renowned composers Julie Giroux, John Mackey, and Dr. Frank Ticheli, is a member of BMI and Kappa Kappa Psi, and is currently the composer-in-residence and Assistant Conductor of the Next Gen Chamber Players in Mansfield, Texas, for their 2017-2018 season. He studies under Dr. Neil Anderson-Himmelspach for composition and Mr. Richard Murrow for Euphonium. Everything Band is sponsored by Celtic Horizon Arts, the leading tour operator for the arts in the UK and Ireland. Celtic Horizon Arts host bands, orchestras, and choirs from around the world and are now taking enquiries for their 2020 band festival in Limerick, Ireland. Find out more by contacting Keith Kelly at [email protected] or find out more on Facebook at @CelticHorizonArts