Kevin Bishop
Executive Director
Kevin’s life work serves the ideal of “music as social action”- the belief that music education can aid community building, personal elevation, and reconstruction. His varied career as a violist, violinist, conductor, composer, educator, and arts administrator has taken him around the world to study, witness, engage with, and lead social music projects. Having grown up in a troubled neighborhood near Los Angeles, his entrepreneurial career began young when he founded the Western Society of Chamber Music after tragedy caused the demise of his school’s music program. He led this organization and its community-minded efforts for 7 years before moving to Connecticut and founding Cuatro Puntos. Vía Cuatro Puntos he volunteered with an El Sistema program in Bolivia for two summers, then in Afghanistan for three. Kevin eventually became Director of Orchestral Studies at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, living in Afghanistan for an extended period. During this time he led the country’s only orchestra in numerous concerts for presidents and ambassadors. He prepared the country’s first female conductors to lead the Afghan Women’s Orchestra in concerts across Europe, including the closing ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. In addition to being Executive Director of Cuatro Puntos, Kevin is also music director of the Music Moves Hartford Street Choir, serving Hartford's homeless and displaced population. He is previously Co-Founder of Müzikhane Social Music School, which is near the Syrian border in Southeastern Turkey. Kevin composes and records music inspired by the traditions he encounters, and he has records on the Arkadash, Toccata Classics and Métier labels. Speaking of a solo viola track on Toccata Classics label, Fanfare Magazine said he plays with “great intensity”. In a review of one of Kevin's compositions on the Métier label, Fanfare said "Bishop’s music has a convincing unity of purpose and direction that is captivating, even engrossing". Kevin also loves to keep music fun- sometimes you will find him playing viola and kick drum simultaneously as he plays and records albums his own arrangements with the pop string quartet Golden Scroll Soloists. He has performed with the band Foo Fighters at the Grammy Awards and with members of Led Zeppelin. Scores for his original compositions are open-sourced and available on imslp.org.
EXTENDED BIO
Kevin Bishop has a varied career as a violist, violinist, conductor, composer, educator, and arts administrator. He has been referred to as “an enthusiastic young violist” by Chamber Music Magazine and a “brilliant young entrepreneur” by Classical KUSC FM Los Angeles. WNPR's Steve Metcalf wrote that Kevin "has established himself as one of the region’s most enterprising musical figures." Speaking of a solo viola performance on a Toccata Classics/NAXOS album, Fanfare Magazine said "Allah Hu... is a lovely, yearning piece, played with great intensity by Kevin Bishop". A Fanfare Magazine review of his composition Jaunpuri, released on the Métier label, stated "Bishop’s music has a convincing unity of purpose and direction that is captivating, even engrossing".
As an international competition winner on viola, Kevin played recitals at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. He has performed, conducted, and taught masterclasses in Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, England, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Afghanistan, Turkey, and the USA. He has been guest lecturer at the New England Conservatory in Boston, the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin, Germany, and at the Chamber Music America national conference. He has also been a guest panelist at the European Union's International Social Impact of Music Making Conference, held in Bogotá, Colombia. He has played viola in everything from the complete chamber music of Brahms with the Southern California Brahms Festival to on stage with the Foo Fighters at the Grammy Awards and with members of Led Zepplin. He has appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, BBC Radio 3, and countless local stations in the USA, South America, Afghanistan, and Europe. He can be heard - as a viola soloist, chamber musician, and composer- on the album “The Rosegarden of Light” released by Toccata Classics and Naxos. Many of his compositions, and his chamber music playing, can be heard on the Métier album "Jaipur to Cairo" several of his compositions. He can also be heard as a chamber musician on the Arkadash Record albums "Sounds of Persia" and "The Curve". Furthermore, he has spent 13 years arranging and performing pop music with the Golden Scroll Soloists String Quartet, and can be heard on their album titled "Perfect".
Kevin’s primary interest is in the power of music education to aid in community building, personal elevation, and reconstruction. After spending three summers as a volunteer teacher and teacher-trainer at a rural El Sistema program in Bolivia, Kevin dedicated many years to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul. He was a guest teacher and teacher-trainer for three summers, and then spent a year as the full-time Director of Orchestral Studies, Strings, and Composition. He led the country’s only orchestra and oversaw their revolutionary all-female ensemble. Kevin coached the country's first two female conductors as they led the Afghan Women's Orchestra "Zohra" in a performance at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, which was attended by world leaders and watched across the globe. He, along with the two first female conductors ever in Afghanistan, led the orchestra in sold-out performances in Zurich, Geneva, and Berlin. Within Afghanistan he conducted the co-ed Afghan Youth Symphony in performances for presidents, ambassadors, and the Under-Secretary General of the United Nations.
Other conducting credits include three times as conductor of the CMEA Connecticut All-State Elementary Honor Orchestra and four summers as chamber orchestra conductor at Arizona’s Strings Del Rio Festival. He also designed and led the first music enrichment for the BELL ‘Building Educated Leaders for Life’ summer program in Providence, RI, serving children ages 8-10 who had been held back in school. Currently he directs the Music Moves Hartford Street Choir, serving Hartford's homeless and displaced population
Kevin is Executive Director of Cuatro Puntos, a non profit organization dedicated to intercultural dialogue and universal access through the performance, writing, and teaching of music. Cuatro Puntos oversees a resident chamber music ensemble, concert series, and the Music Moves Hartford Street Choir for the those who face homelessness in Hartford, Connecticut. Before becoming director of Cuatro Puntos in 2012, he was Executive Director of the Western Society of Chamber Music in California from 2004-2011.
Kevin holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of California, a Master of Music degree from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, and a Certificate in Cultural Diplomacy from the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Germany. He received further training on viola at the Music Academy of the West and the Meadowmount School of Music. His primary viola teachers have been Helen Callus, Donald McInnes, Patricia McCarty, Steve Larson, and Linda Kline-Lamar.
DISCOGRAPHY
The Rosegarden of Light - Toccata Classics (TOCC0342) - distributed outside of the UK by Naxos. Released 2016 (Resident Musicians of Cuatro Puntos)
From Jaipur to Cairo - Métier,Divine Arts Records (MSV28589) - distributed by Naxos. released 2019
(Resident Musicians of Cuatro Puntos)
Centennial Cole - released August 2019
(Orice Jenkins and company))
The Curve: The Music of Ameen Mokdad - Arkadash Records (AR10502). Released September 2019
(Resident Musicians of Cuatro Puntos)
Sounds of Persia - Arkadash Records (AR10501).
MEDIA LINKS
Read an article about Kevin and Cuatro Puntos on NPR.
Read about Kevin and the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.
Listen to Kevin on WNPR (January 2016)
Listen to Kevin on WNPR (February 2017)
MUSIC LINKS
-Watch Kevin conduct the Afghan Women's Orchestra "Zohra" in his own arrangement at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland
- Sadie Harrison "Allah Hu" for solo viola (from The Rosegarden of Light, Toccata Classics, reviewed by Fanfare Magazine)
- John Hawkins "Urizen" for viola & piano (live recording, with Gaylien Chun, piano)
EXTENDED BIO
Kevin Bishop has a varied career as a violist, violinist, conductor, composer, educator, and arts administrator. He has been referred to as “an enthusiastic young violist” by Chamber Music Magazine and a “brilliant young entrepreneur” by Classical KUSC FM Los Angeles. WNPR's Steve Metcalf wrote that Kevin "has established himself as one of the region’s most enterprising musical figures." Speaking of a solo viola performance on a Toccata Classics/NAXOS album, Fanfare Magazine said "Allah Hu... is a lovely, yearning piece, played with great intensity by Kevin Bishop". A Fanfare Magazine review of his composition Jaunpuri, released on the Métier label, stated "Bishop’s music has a convincing unity of purpose and direction that is captivating, even engrossing".
As an international competition winner on viola, Kevin played recitals at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. He has performed, conducted, and taught masterclasses in Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, England, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Afghanistan, Turkey, and the USA. He has been guest lecturer at the New England Conservatory in Boston, the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin, Germany, and at the Chamber Music America national conference. He has also been a guest panelist at the European Union's International Social Impact of Music Making Conference, held in Bogotá, Colombia. He has played viola in everything from the complete chamber music of Brahms with the Southern California Brahms Festival to on stage with the Foo Fighters at the Grammy Awards and with members of Led Zepplin. He has appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, BBC Radio 3, and countless local stations in the USA, South America, Afghanistan, and Europe. He can be heard - as a viola soloist, chamber musician, and composer- on the album “The Rosegarden of Light” released by Toccata Classics and Naxos. Many of his compositions, and his chamber music playing, can be heard on the Métier album "Jaipur to Cairo" several of his compositions. He can also be heard as a chamber musician on the Arkadash Record albums "Sounds of Persia" and "The Curve". Furthermore, he has spent 13 years arranging and performing pop music with the Golden Scroll Soloists String Quartet, and can be heard on their album titled "Perfect".
Kevin’s primary interest is in the power of music education to aid in community building, personal elevation, and reconstruction. After spending three summers as a volunteer teacher and teacher-trainer at a rural El Sistema program in Bolivia, Kevin dedicated many years to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul. He was a guest teacher and teacher-trainer for three summers, and then spent a year as the full-time Director of Orchestral Studies, Strings, and Composition. He led the country’s only orchestra and oversaw their revolutionary all-female ensemble. Kevin coached the country's first two female conductors as they led the Afghan Women's Orchestra "Zohra" in a performance at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, which was attended by world leaders and watched across the globe. He, along with the two first female conductors ever in Afghanistan, led the orchestra in sold-out performances in Zurich, Geneva, and Berlin. Within Afghanistan he conducted the co-ed Afghan Youth Symphony in performances for presidents, ambassadors, and the Under-Secretary General of the United Nations.
Other conducting credits include three times as conductor of the CMEA Connecticut All-State Elementary Honor Orchestra and four summers as chamber orchestra conductor at Arizona’s Strings Del Rio Festival. He also designed and led the first music enrichment for the BELL ‘Building Educated Leaders for Life’ summer program in Providence, RI, serving children ages 8-10 who had been held back in school. Currently he directs the Music Moves Hartford Street Choir, serving Hartford's homeless and displaced population
Kevin is Executive Director of Cuatro Puntos, a non profit organization dedicated to intercultural dialogue and universal access through the performance, writing, and teaching of music. Cuatro Puntos oversees a resident chamber music ensemble, concert series, and the Music Moves Hartford Street Choir for the those who face homelessness in Hartford, Connecticut. Before becoming director of Cuatro Puntos in 2012, he was Executive Director of the Western Society of Chamber Music in California from 2004-2011.
Kevin holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of California, a Master of Music degree from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, and a Certificate in Cultural Diplomacy from the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Germany. He received further training on viola at the Music Academy of the West and the Meadowmount School of Music. His primary viola teachers have been Helen Callus, Donald McInnes, Patricia McCarty, Steve Larson, and Linda Kline-Lamar.
DISCOGRAPHY
The Rosegarden of Light - Toccata Classics (TOCC0342) - distributed outside of the UK by Naxos. Released 2016 (Resident Musicians of Cuatro Puntos)
From Jaipur to Cairo - Métier,Divine Arts Records (MSV28589) - distributed by Naxos. released 2019
(Resident Musicians of Cuatro Puntos)
Centennial Cole - released August 2019
(Orice Jenkins and company))
The Curve: The Music of Ameen Mokdad - Arkadash Records (AR10502). Released September 2019
(Resident Musicians of Cuatro Puntos)
Sounds of Persia - Arkadash Records (AR10501).
MEDIA LINKS
Read an article about Kevin and Cuatro Puntos on NPR.
Read about Kevin and the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.
Listen to Kevin on WNPR (January 2016)
Listen to Kevin on WNPR (February 2017)
MUSIC LINKS
-Watch Kevin conduct the Afghan Women's Orchestra "Zohra" in his own arrangement at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland
- Sadie Harrison "Allah Hu" for solo viola (from The Rosegarden of Light, Toccata Classics, reviewed by Fanfare Magazine)
- John Hawkins "Urizen" for viola & piano (live recording, with Gaylien Chun, piano)