KEVIN McKEOWN
is currently the conductor of the Santa Monica College Wind Ensemble. He received B.A. and M.M. degrees fromUCLA and is close to the completion of the D.M.A degree in Conducting. Mr.McKeown is originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, but grew up in Santa Monica and attended schools in the Santa Monica-Malibu School District. In 1993, as a student at Santa Monica College, he was Guest Conductor with the Santa Monica College Concert Band. As an undergraduate at UCLA, he was Drum Major of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band for four years. In 1998, Mr.McKeown appeared in the HBO Original Movie, "A Bright, Shining Lie," where he conducted members of the UCLA Marching Band. Kevin was the Graduate Associate Conductor of the UCLA Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band, under the mentoring of Dr. Thomas Lee. McKeown's performances with these groups include Vincent Persichetti's Symphony for Band, Leonard Bernstein's Overture to Candide, George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (Original Instrumentation), Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy, and Darius Milhaud's La Creation DuMonde. Kevin currently holds positions at Santa Monica College, CSUN, and CSULA. At SMC he has taught Concert Band, Intermediate Band, Music 32 (Appreciation)and Music 1 (Fundamentals of Music). McKeown also works as a guest conductor/clinician for a variety of wind groups and has experience conducting Orchestra, Opera ,Musical Theater, and Hollywood film scores.