Colin Kemper (b. 1989: he/him) is a composer, performer, and educator. His compositional interests are multifaceted; particularly, his art is concerned with matters pertaining to mental wellness, emotional intimacy and vulnerability, family dynamics, and community. He is interested in collaborative endeavors involving notated music, electronic, electro-acoustic, popular song, theater, video games, film, dance, screendance, and multimedia installation. He studied music composition with Barbara Jazwinski, Maxwell Dulaney, C.P. First, and Amir Zaheri. Through Zaheri's mentorship, Colin learned that he should "Write what you know." and "Write what you want to hear."
Colin's recent artistic endeavors have received national and international recognition; he is a Parma Artist on the Ravello Records Label, which released their album, Mind and Machine Vol. 5 (2023), and featured two of his compositions: I am all that is here, I and Inquiry into the nature of the warm asphalt beneath my feet with lines lining things up. Colin was also recognized as a finalist in the American Prize (2022 for his choral work, And here, we keep the most bright things., and semi-finalist for the screendance, Dream State. Colin's Buffalo, for solo piano, was premiered at the College Music Society's national conference (2023).
Colin's collaborations in screendance have been recognized at various festivals, including the Frame X Frame Dance Film Festival in Houston, Texas, the Modco Dance Film Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Lift Off Film Festival in Los Angeles, California. His soundtrack for Earthborn Interactive’s “Flutterbombs” is released on Xbox and PlayStation American and European marketplaces.