KevinRobison
bio
KEVIN ROBISON (b. 1966) is an American composer and conductor specializing in vocal, orchestral, piano and theatre music. His wealth of experience as a choral conductor, music director, composer and arranger, coupled with a lifelong passion for theater and storytelling, has shaped his unique perspective on language- and narrative-driven composition and performance.
With over 300 compositions, arrangements and orchestrations to his credit, Robison is known for a wide range of skillfully-crafted works that enthrall listeners and performers alike. He has received over one hundred commissions from ensembles throughout the U.S., including Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Turtle Creek Chorale, New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, and Seattle Men’s Chorus. His extended work for chorus and orchestra, Libertad, was premiered by Voices of Note in 2016, and his Fantasia on Appalachian Folk Songs for solo voice and orchestra was premiered in 2024 by Symphony of the Mountains, featuring American tenor Roy Cornelius Smith. His choral music is published by Hal Leonard, Oxford University Press, ECS and Alfred Music Publishing; and he's written, published, and recorded two holiday piano albums, available at Apple Music and from other streaming services.
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Also a passionate theatre musician, Robison was Resident Director of Music at California’s Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) for seven years, where he conducted professional productions and taught musical theatre classes. While there, he wrote his first book on singing for actors, received a Los Angeles Robby Award Nomination for his musical direction of Sweeney Todd, and composed scores for the plays Skylight, Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, and Twelfth Night, for which he received Best Original Score recognition in BackStage West.
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In 2003, his passion for social advocacy led him to Southern California where he accepted the position of Assistant Conductor of Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles. In addition to conducting numerous performances by the 200-voice ensemble, he toured South America, conducted the chorus in a tribute event honoring Sir Elton John, and co-created collaborative programs with Broadway luminaries Susan Egan, Lily Tomlin, Jerry Herman, and John Kander. He also worked closely with Alan Broadbent to develop the Grammy winner's score for Lush Life, a work of choral theatre starring Billy Porter as the legendary jazz composer Billy Strayhorn. While in L.A. he enjoyed collaborations with Jason Graae and Yeardley Smith, and was pianist for two stage plays written and directed by Del Shores: Sordid Lives (with members of the movie cast), and Blues for Willadean with Beth Grant and Octavia Spencer.
In 2007, he left California to become the first full-time artistic director of the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus, leading the state of Georgia's largest self-sustaining choral ensemble in over 100 performances. Over the course of ten years, he brought the chorus to international acclaim in the LGBT movement by advancing the genre of choral theatre, which included the creation and commissioning of original concert works, including Andrew Lippa's oratorio I Am Harvey Milk, for which he conducted the East Coast premiere. In 2013, along with the AGMC staff and board of directors, he established the Atlanta Women’s Chorus and the umbrella arts organization Voices of Note, which has been celebrating choral music across the spectrum of gender identity for over a decade.
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In 2017, Robison stepped down from Voices of Note to return to composing, teaching, and theatre music direction, which led him to Atlanta's most cutting-edge theatre, Actor's Express, where he has been music director for concert versions of The Harvey Milk Show and Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along.
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Robison hails from Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where he made his performing debut on the stage of the state’s official outdoor drama, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. He lives in Atlanta.