Kenyon Duncan, composer

Kenyon Duncan, composer

Kenyon Duncan is a composer, performer, conductor, and arranger based in Northern California. Recent commissions include works for iSing Silicon Valley, Touch of Blue: New American Vocal Ensemble, the Princeton Playhouse Choir & Orchestra, and the Yale Undergraduate Chamber Orchestra. His sound installation Music for Strangers was featured at the Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media. Kenyon is currently an artist-citizen-in-residence with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music in Mendocino County, CA.

Kenyon’s vocal and instrumental arrangements have been commissioned by groups around the US and performed in venues all over the world. Recent commissions include reinterpretations of Charlie Smalls’ “Soon As I Get Home” from The Wiz and “Love Will Find A Way” from Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake’s landmark musical Shuffle Along.

Kenyon’s experience as an ensemble leader has led to the production of 3 award-winning albums, bringing him around the world to lead workshops on vocal performance and ensemble technique. He spent a year directing The Whiffenpoofs, programming over 200 concerts across 25 states and 26 countries. Kenyon holds a B.A. in Computing & The Arts from Yale University, where he studied composition, computer music, and conducting. Kenyon’s work has been critiqued and encouraged by Gabriela Lena Frank, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Nathalie Joachim, Haruka Fujii, Charles Overton, Kathryn Alexander, Scott Petersen, and Konrad Kaczmarek. Kenyon has contributed to multiple studio albums as a vocalist and pianist and is currently working on a solo recording project.