Scotland-based American conductor Kellen Gray is Associate Artist of the RSNO, following his two-year tenure as Assistant Conductor (2021-2023), a post that was supported by the Solti Foundation.
Kellen has earned a reputation as a versatile and imaginative artist, celebrated for his diverse array of traditional and experimental programming, thrilling performances, and provocative multimedia concert experience curation. He is one of the foremost experts and interpreters of the music of African-diasporic composers, for whom he is a passionate advocate and champion.
Born and raised in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Kellen’s early professional life took him on a diverse path ranging from orchestral violinist to beekeeper, before turning his full-time attention to conducting.
Kellen credits the many folk music styles of the south-eastern United States as his earliest and most impactful musical influences, and his repertoire interests to date have been fuelled by the engaged pursuit of that same spirit of cultural authenticity. This has led to a particular mastery not only of works that incorporate American folk idioms, but also in-depth explorations of heavily folk inspired European composers such as Béla Bartók, Manuel de Falla, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, amongst others.
A passionate champion for African-diasporic composers, Kellen was the Founder & Curator of Charleston Symphony’s Project Aurora: a programming and performance initiative aiming to illustrate the importance of African-American arts and culture as equally valuable to its European equivalent. Additionally, he serves as Assistant Editor & Conductor Liaison for the African Diaspora Music Project, after extensive research at The Center for Black Music Research (CBMR) at Columbia College Chicago.
Kellen’s discography to date comprises two celebrated releases – African American Voices and African American Voices II, made with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra – showcasing music by Margaret Bonds, William Dawson, William Grant Still, Coleridge Taylor Perkinson, Florence Price, and George Walker. Both records have met with the highest critical acclaim, including receiving an elusive 5-star review from the prestigious Diapason magazine.
Kellen’s appointment as Associate Artist of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra – the first position of its kind for the orchestra – marks an unprecedented but organic development following his highly successful tenure as the orchestra’s Assistant Conductor (2021-2023). Previous positions in Kellen’s formative years as a conductor included successful tenures with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (Associate Conductor, 2018-2023), Chicago Sinfonietta (Conducting Fellow & Assistant Conductor, 2016-2018), and Valdosta Symphony Orchestra (Assistant Conductor, 2014-2016).
Recent and forthcoming guest conducting highlights include engagements with such orchestras as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington), Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Seattle Opera, amongst others.
