Kenji Bunch

Kenji Bunch (born July 27, 1973) is an American composer and violist living in Portland, Oregon. Bunch currently serves as the artistic director o
Fear No Music
and teaches at Portland State University, Reed College, and for the Portland Youth Philharmonic. He is also the director of MYSfits, the most advanced string ensemble of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony.

Known for "amalgamating traditional American musical forms... and European-based classical music," Bunch's work for chamber ensemble, orchestra and ballet often incorporates elements of hip hop, jazz, bluegrass and funk to critical acclaim. Over sixty American orchestras have performed his music. His film credits include ''The Bellman Equation'' and ''The Argentum Prophecies.'' His discography includes recordings on Sony/BMG, EMI Classics, Koch, Kleos Classics, RCA, Naxos, Pony Canyon, GENUIN, Capstone, MSR Classics, Innova, ARS, and Crystal labels.

Education

Bunch graduated from Wilson High School (Portland, Oregon) in 1991 having performed in the Portland Youth Philharmonic for five years (1986–1991). He then attended The Juilliard School, where he was the first student ever to receive dual Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in viola performance (studying with Toby Appel) and composition (studying with Robert Beaser). In 1998, Bunch became a Young Concert Artists’ Composer-in-Residence, as chosen by a panel of distinguished YCA alumni.

Concert works and recordings

Over sixty American orchestras have performed Bunch's music, which "reache(s) into every section of the orchestra to create an intriguing mixture of sonic colors". As the inaugural Composer in Residence for the Moab Music Festival (2021), Bunch composed ''Lost Freedom: A Memory'' in collaboration with and starring actor George Takei as the narrator of his own writings, interwoven with chamber ensemble. Other recent works include commissions from Oregon Symphony ''(Time In and Aspects of an Elephant),'' Chamber Music Northwest (''Vesper Flight'', and ''Ralph’s Old Records''), the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society (''the still, small voice),'' Eugene Ballet ''(The Snow Queen),'' Seattle Symphony ''(Groovebox Variations),'' Traverse City Symphony, MI (''Concerto for Piano Left Hand''), Peter Britt Festival (''Song of Sasquatch''), 45th Parallel Universe (''Wildflower'', and ''Folie à deux)'' Lark Quartet (''Megalopolis''), Grant Park Music Festival (''Symphony no. 3: Dream Songs''), Music From Angel Fire (''Shadowbox''), Orchestra Engagement Lab (''Embrace'' for electric violin and orchestra), Chamber Music America (''Serenade'' for Ivy Street Ensemble), Third Angle New Music (''Triple Jump''), Eastman School of Music (''String Quartet no. 2: Concussion Theory'' for Ying Quartet), American Composers Orchestra (''The Devil’s Box'' for viola and orchestra), Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music (''Supermaximum'' for string orchestra), Colorado, Marin, Winnipeg Symphonies (''Piano Concerto''), Ahn Trio: “Lullaby For My Favorite Insomniac,” Lenny Kravitz: “It’s Time For A Love Revolution,” Joshua Bell: “Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell and Friends.”

All-Bunch concerts have been mounted in New York City, Boston, Denver, Nashville, Mobile, and Portland, as well as at the Perpignon Conservatoire in southern France, the Stamford Festival in England, and The Oranjewoud Festival in The Netherlands. His dance collaborations include work with such choreographers as Toni Pimble, David Parsons, Nai-Ni Chen, Kate Skarpetowska, Paul Vasterling, and Darrell Grand Moultrie. Bunch's film credits include ''The Bellman Equation'' and ''The Argentum Prophecies'', and his extensive discography includes recordings on Sony/BMG, EMI Classics, Koch, Kleos Classics, RCA, Naxos, Pony Canyon, GENUIN, Capstone, MSR Classics, Innova, ARS, and Crystal labels.

Professional activities

Since 2014, Bunch has served as artistic director o
Fear No Music
following a year as interim director of Fear No Music's Young Composers Project in 2013.
/ref> Known for their forward-thinking programming, "Fear No Music’s husband-and-wife leadership team—Artistic Director Kenji Bunch and Executive Director Monica Ohuchi —have spent the past five years making FNM the best kind of Portland hybrid: a classical ensemble with unimpeachable performance credentials, a love for local and contemporary composers, and a mature sense of social justice and responsibility."

Bunch is also the Director of MYSfits, the Metropolitan Youth Symphony's self-conducted string orchestra. Under Bunch's leadership, the group embraces non-traditional, multi-style music from fiddle to funk, and group composition and improvisation.

Bunch teaches viola performance & composition at Portland State University, viola performance at Reed College, and is the Head Music Theory Instructor for the Portland Youth Philharmonic.

Residencies

* 2021: Moab Music Festival
* 2014–present: 45th Parallel      
* 2018: American Viola Society
* 2017: Music at Angel Fire (NM)
* 2003, 2005 - 2008: Mobile Symphony (Meet the Composer Music Alive)
* 2007: Sound Encounters New Music Festival, New England Conservatory
* 2006: Spoleto USA Festival
* 2006: Bravo! Vail Music Festival
* 1998 - 2000: Young Concert Artists, Inc.

Representative works

''Time In'' for orchestra (2021)

* commissioned and premiered by the Oregon Symphony as the opening music for their first concert of their 125th Anniversary Season, and the first live performance in 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic

''Lost Freedom: A Memory'' for narrator and chamber ensemble (2021)

* commissioned by the Moab Music Festival; premiered by actor and civil rights activist George Takei with Kenji Bunch, Stefan Jackiw, Kristin Lee, Ruben Rengel and Cindy Lu on violin; Cynthia Phelps, viola; Jay Campbell and Tonya Tomkins, cello; Conrad Tao, piano; and Andy Akiho and Ian Rosenbaum on percussion at Red Cliffs Lodge (UT)
* features George Takei's speeches, personal writings, and recollections interwoven by Moab Music Festival Music Director Michael Barrett recalling the period in World War II America when Takei and his family, along with 120,000 other Japanese Americans, were stripped of their property and liberty, and unjustly imprisoned in confinement camps
* the inaugural work in the Moab Music Festival's Commissioning Club

''the still small voice'' for string octet (2020)

* commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society; premiered by the Catalyst and Harlem String Quartets at Benjamin Franklin Hall, American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia, PA) in coordination with a voting drive
* based on Walt Whitman's poem ''Election Day, November, 1884''
* made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

''Aspects of an Elephant'' for orchestra (2017)

* commissioned and premiered by the Oregon Symphony
* available on "Aspects of America," the Oregon Symphony's 2018 recording of 20th- and 21st-century American orchestral music
* the work depicts the timeless parable of six men who try to discern the traits of an elephant in a pitch-dark room, eventually discovering that only the sum of their perceptions encompasses the full truth

''The Snow Queen'' large ensemble, incidental music for the ballet (2016)

* commissioned by Eugene Ballet and premiered and recorded by Orchestra NEXT (Innova Recordings)
* this full-length ballet is based on the original story by Hans Christian Andersen
''Supermaximum'' for string orchestra (2011) or full orchestra (2013)

* commissioned by Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, premiered by East Coast Chamber Orchestra
* inspired by the tradition of chain gang songs from prison camps of the depression-era South

''Concerto for Piano and Orchestra'' (2011)

* commissioned by The Magnum Opus Project, Kathryn Gould, principal patron, facilitated by Meet The Composer
* premiered by the Colorado Symphony, Jeffrey Kahane, conducting, and Monica Ohuchi, piano

''Monica's Notebook'' performance etudes for solo piano (2010–11)

* premiered by Monica Ohuchi, piano; premiere recording on Helicon Records

''String Circle'' for string quartet (2005)
* commissioned by V.J. Jordan and Chamber Music Amarillo for Joanna Mendoza and the Harrington String Quartet; premiered by the Harrington String Quartet and Kenji Bunch, viola Amarillo Art Museum (TX)
''Boiling Point'' for amplified string quartet, bass, and drumset (2002)

* premiered by The Nurse Kaya String Quartet, the Knitting Factory, NY
* inspired by the disparate influences of comic book graphics, the music of Morton Feldman, and a whistling teakettle
* the music is built in repeated cells, with rock-inflected grooves and dynamics
* the work – performed with a live teakettle on stage – lasts as long as it takes the water to boil

Discography

* "Megalopolis" - Lark Quartet, 2019 (Bridge)
* "Aspects of America" - Oregon Symphony, 2018 (Pentatone)
* "Snow Queen" - Orchestra NEXT, 2017 (Innova Records)
* "Wood and Forest" - Makoto Nakura, 2012 (American Modern Recordings)
* "Journaling" - Cornelius Dufallo, 2012 (Innova Records)
* "Monica's Notebook" - Monica Ohuchi, 2012 (Kleos Classics)
* "Heavy" - Ethel String Quartet, 2012 (Innova Records)
* "Unleashed" - Kenji Bunch, 2011 (Bulging Disc Records)
* "Warning May Cause Mood Swings" - Saint Michael Trio, 2011 (Presentation Partners)
* "Lullaby for my Favorite Insomniac" - Ahn Trio, 2008 (RCA Victor Europe)
* "True" - Ahn Trio, 2008 (Sony BMG)
* "Viola Swirl" - Carol Rodland and Tatevik Mokatsian, 2007 (Crystal Records)
* "Harpsichord Alive, New York City Music" - Elaine Comparone and Queen's Chamber Band, 2007 (Capstone)
* "Works for Viola & Piano" - Naoko Shimizu and Ozgur Aydin, 2004 (Genuin)
* "Groovebox" - Ahn Trio, 2002 (EMI Classics)
* "Works for Violin & Orchestra" - English Chamber Orchestra, 1999 (EMI Classics)

Critical response

According to ''The Oregonian'', Kenji Bunch has won “a reputation as one of the nation’s finest and most listener-friendly composers of his generation.”

"Bunch succeeds masterfully... He combines a modernist vocabulary with flourishes of the romantic, with little trace of the avant-garde; old-fashioned ears will drink this music in. Still it's unpredictable enough to delight those who yearn for something new and original... the magical music stands strongly on its own." This quote is excerpted from a ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' review of Bunch's music for ''The Snow Queen'', a full-length ballet released as a two-CD set from Innova Recordings featuring Brian McWhorter conducting Orchestra Next.

Following the Marin Symphony's performance of Bunch's ''Piano Concerto'' featuring soloist Monica Ohuchi, ''San Francisco Classical Voice'' wrote, "highly enjoyable music…merging classical and pop music elements into an attractive, relatively unchallenging mix that’s in tune with the current eclectic plateau of musical fashion."

See also

* List of Juilliard School people

References

External links

Official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunch, Kenji
1973 births
Living people
20th-century American composers
20th-century classical composers
21st-century American composers
21st-century classical composers
American classical composers
American classical violists
American male classical composers
Juilliard School alumni
Musicians from Portland, Oregon
Portland Youth Philharmonic alumni
Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School alumni
Classical musicians from Oregon
Ballet composers
American musicians of Japanese descent