Conrad Kehn is a performer, composer, improviser, educator, writer and artist. He is the founding Director of The Playground; a chamber ensemble dedicated to modern music.
An award winning composer, Conrad’s style spans all genres touching on electro-acoustic music, multimedia works, graphic scores, aleatory, and experimental rock, but still remains grounded in the western music tradition. His music has been performed across the US including Issue Project Room (NY), Audio Inversions (Austin, TX), Pendulum New Music Series (CU-Boulder), and the Summer New Music Symposium at Colorado College.
Conrad has been spotted on stage with a variety of acts including the sporadically performing improv ensembles Mystery Children & Rhythmic Void, the experimental multimedia ensemble Itchy-O, now defunct rock bands Kallisti and Skull Flux, and of course The Playground.
As a vocalist, Conrad specializes in improvisation, contemporary music, and the use of electronics. Improvisatory collaborations include performances with Wu Fei, Tatsuya Nakatani, James Ilgenfritz, Brandon Vaccaro, Nate Wooley and the ensemble Attack/ Adorn/ Decay. Recent concert hall performances include Bolcom’s Satires, Ligeti’s Nonsense Madrigals, Morton Feldman’s O’Hara Songs, Cowell’s songs for low voice, Rzewski’s Les Moutons de Parnuge and his own compositions.
Conrad holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Commercial Music and Recording Technology from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music (1996). He also has a Master’s Degree in Composition from Lamont (2000) where he was named the Outstanding Graduate Student in Composition and the Outstanding Graduate Student in Commercial Music. His composition instructors include Don Keats, M. Lynn Baker, and Bill Hill. He is currently pursuing an MBA at the Daniels College of Business focusing on Entrepreneurship and Non-profit Management.
