ABOUT

Kevin Charoensri is a Thai-American composer, pianist, conductor, and arts advocate from San Diego, CA. Described by The Washington Post as offering a “bristling musical response,” his music seeks to transcend the score, often centering stories from historically marginalized communities, particularly those within the AAPI community. Beyond composition, Kevin is an active public voice for the arts and representation, having appeared on CNN, NPR and several podcasts to speak about cultural advocacy and youth leadership in music.

Kevin made his international composing and conducting debut to a full-house at the Sydney Opera House in June of 2018, where he conducted his original work “Return”,  receiving recognition from the San Diego Union Tribune. Since then, Kevin has gone on to do several composer residencies at schools such as UCLA, Texas Tech University, University of Delaware, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, The Brooklyn Wind Symphony, and both the Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble/Concert Band. His works have also been heard in notable concert halls such as The Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, and Cornell’s Bailey Hall. Notable compositions include “Rising Light” - a musical response to the post-COVID Asian hate, which was programmed by the “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band.

Kevin is an internationally active guest conductor and educator who has worked across the United States, Thailand, and Australia. He has guest lectured at Mahidol University and Kasetsart University, guest conducted ensembles in Thailand and Australia, and led masterclasses at California State University, Fullerton and Texas Tech University, in addition to guest conducting the Pacific Symphony Youth Concert Band. Deeply committed to educational equity, he actively supports underrepresented communities in both Southern California and Thailand, emphasizing mentorship, outreach, and self-advocacy to empower the next generation of young artists.

Kevin began his formal compositional education in 2019, participating in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Summer Festival as one of the select high school students and later being one of seven chosen for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s summer composition program. Additionally, Kevin studied privately with Dr. Jules Pegram and Dr. Dan Temkin. He completed his BM in Music Composition at The University of Texas at Austin under the guidance of Omar Thomas, Dr. Donald Grantham, and Dr. Yevgeniy Sharlat. Additionally, Kevin was the pianist for the University of Texas Jazz Ensemble under Dr. John Mills and studied jazz piano under Dr. Ross Margitza. He is currently persuing his master’s in music composition at Michigan State University, studying with Dr. David Biedenbender and serves as the electronic music teaching assistant.

Kevin’s artistic portfolio spans orchestra, wind ensemble, chamber music, choral works, jazz ensembles, film scores, and popular music. From 2019 - 2021, he contributed to the Los Angeles pop music scene, working as a music producer, ghostwriter, engineer, and social media marketer for multiple artists. His contributions producing and ghost writing compiled in hundreds of thousands of streams across streaming platforms.

At twenty-two, Kevin seeks to blend genres and bridge Asian and American cultures through his music and beyond, hoping to fuse his artistic pursuits with his passion for arts advocacy.