Kevin Estes Music

 Welcome to Kevin Estes Music!

Dr. Kevin Estes is a composer, percussionist, and performing musician living in Richmond, VA. He has appeared as a performer at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and has performed with Central Ohio Symphony, McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra, Westerville Symphony, Winston Salem Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Brass Consort, Columbus Moving Company, and MaD Arts Group.

His work as a solo percussionist explores the diversity and combination of performance practices for world instruments such as the Riq, Frame Drum, Doumbek, Daff, Kanjira, Djembe, and Hadjira.  Nominated for Best World Album by the Independent Music Awards, Estes can be heard performing with Melodic Intersect on their album, Inner Vision.  He can also be heard performing on Alejandro Rutty’s, The Conscious Sleepwalker, and UNCG’s Casella Sinfionetta, arts and letters.  All available for download through iTunes.

As a composer, Dr. Estes had the privilege of working with world renown choreographer and director, Steve Koplowitz, on his site specific dance work, Sullivant Travels, which celebrated the history and architecture of Sullivant Hall at The Ohio State University. As part of this collaboration, Estes was commissioned to compose a pivotal work in his career, The Past is Up. This work features Estes as a elctro-acoustic composer.  All of the sounds and textures were created through recording himself playing prepared piano, percussion instruments, and wine glasses.  This composition was featured on WOSU Public Media television program, Broad and High.

After completing this commission, Estes went on to compose new works for several dance companies in Columbus including MaD Arts Group, Columbus Moving Company, Movement Activities, and The Ohio State University Dance Department.  One of his latest work, GLASS (2015), is a modern ballet depicting the life of a princess.  With inspiration from Justin Richards The Glass Princess, and in collaboration with MaD Arts Group, Columbus Moving Company presented a touching and dynamic tale of the fragility of life and the will to do more than simply survive.  GLASS, is the story of Princess Clio, a young girl who is poisoned and sleeps through decades of civilizations while only experiencing life through dreams.  The music includes an electronic orchestra, tuned wine glasses, and an instrument made from 29 tuned glass bottles.

Excerpts below include Ara’s Tale, the order of things…, Elite Theory, and Confluence 

Listen to more of Dr. Estes’s projects here: SoundCloud