“Growing up with Appalachian folk and gospel music, and later spending years in the theatre, I came to appreciate the profound relationship between words and music—each capable of illuminating and transforming the other. That understanding shapes every choral piece I compose and arrange.”

Kevin Robison is an American composer and arranger whose work draws on a substantial career in choral conducting, professional theatre, and teaching. His music spans a wide range of styles and traditions, with choral works that bring people together and inspire positive change. Published by Hal Leonard, Oxford, and ECS, his music has been performed by more than 100 ensembles internationally, including the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and recorded by The New York Virtuoso Singers and the William Baker Festival Singers. His Fantasia on Appalachian Folk Songs, premiered in 2024 by tenor Roy Cornelius Smith and Symphony of the Mountains, celebrates his Appalachian roots through contemporary settings of five traditional songs.

Kevin spent seven years as Resident Director of Music at California’s Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA), where he authored The Actor Sings: Discovering a Musical Voice for the Stage (Heinemann, 2000) and music-directed numerous regional productions, including Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, for which he received a Los Angeles Robby Award nomination. His book has found an enduring place in actor training, with citations in scholarly research and educational resources spanning more than two decades.

As Assistant Conductor of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA), Kevin helped develop collaborative performances with Broadway artists including Billy Porter, Jerry Herman, and John Kander, serving as sole arranger for They Had It Coming: The Music of Kander and Ebb. He also helped develop Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn, preparing Alan Broadbent’s original arrangements for chorus and orchestra.

Kevin went on to become the first full-time Artistic Director of the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus (AGMC), a position he held for ten years. He developed and conducted choral theatre productions that brought stories of social change to the stage, including a reimagining of Lush Life, presented in partnership with the National Black Arts Festival, and the East Coast premiere of Andrew Lippa’s I Am Harvey Milk. In 2013, he worked with the AGMC staff and board to launch the Atlanta Women’s Chorus and Voices of Note, an umbrella arts organization celebrating choral music across the spectrum of gender identity. In 2017, he stepped away from Voices of Note to devote more time to composing, teaching, and music direction, and in 2025 was named Conductor Emeritus of the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus.

Kevin grew up in Appalachia, where he made his performing debut at age ten in Virginia’s premier outdoor drama, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in voice from the University of North Alabama and a Master of Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Nevada, Reno. He lives in Atlanta, where he continues to teach and write.