Guitarist and composer Kevin McCormick has studied and performed in Europe, Asia, and the United States. He holds a Diploma in Guitar Performance from the Indiana University School of Music where he studied classical guitar under the tutelage of Ernesto Bitetti, composition with Don Freund, and jazz with David Baker. He earned a degree in English from the University of Notre Dame with a concentration in poetry. Additional guitar studies were with Sergio Notaro at Centro Romano della Chitarra in Rome, Italy. His compositions range from solo and chamber guitar pieces to experimental rock and jazz works to a complete mass. From 1991 to 1995 he lived in Nagoya, Japan composing, performing, and studying the Japanese koto. Since 1994 he has taught guitar privately and at schools and universities. In 1999 he opened Mirabilis Studio for Guitar in Kerrville, Texas where he resides. He is currently Instructor of Guitar at Schreiner University.
He has performed throughout the United States as a solo artist, as an accompanist, and with his own group, the Kevin McCormick Ensemble. He has been a guest lecturer at the Hillsdale College and Univeristy of Texas at Austin, and has worked with soprano Ava Pine, the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio, the Symphony of the Hills, the Schreiner University choirs, the Canto! choir, the San Antonio Master Singers and other fine soloists & ensembles. He has received awards from the Guitar Foundation of America and the Academy of American Poets.
McCormick’s recordings include original song cycles With the Coming of Evening (1993) and Squall (1999), a collection of traditional guitar works Solo Guitar (2004), and Americas (2007) which includes Latin American and original guitar works. He is currently completing a new project of recordings made on a 1840’s Martin classical guitar.
McCormick’s compositions include the award-winning Desert Passage for solo guitar and Annunciation for children’s choir & guitar ensemble commissioned by the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio. In 1990 he received the Academy of American Poet’s Award from the University of Notre Dame for an extended poem inspired by the music of Arvo Pärt.
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