Kevin Kumar
A recent performance “allowed Kumar to demonstrate that, in addition to making an utterly beautiful sound, he is a born leader, and the performance responded to every last facet of a work gigantic in stature.” (Bernard Jacobson, Music-Web International) Also praised by press for his “obvious communicative powers”, “sense of sheer enjoyment”, and having “the precision and tonal richness of a virtuoso”, violinist Kevin Kumar has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among numerous other orchestras. Kumar has also been active as an orchestral player, serving as Concertmaster of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra under Valeri Gergiev and Semyon Bychkov in tours throughout major European cultural centers. He was personally invited by Sir Georg Solti to participate in the Solti Project at Carnegie Hall.
As a devoted chamber musician he has performed in various ensembles and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, and Central America and participated in numerous radio and television broadcasts, including a featured appearance on a primetime NBC sitcom. Kumar has given the world premieres of chamber music and solo works by composers such as Grammy-nominated composer Javier Navarrete, Daniel Catan, R.I. Gordon, and Jeremy Cavaterra. He is also active in the television and motion picture scoring industry, having played on scores by John Williams, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, Alexandre Desplat, Hans Zimmer, and many others.
Kumar is the co-founder/co-artistic director of the Salastina Music Society. This Los Angeles based chamber music series, which has inspired praise and excitement from both critics and audiences, seeks to redefine the classical concert experience by exploring new concert formats while providing world-class performances of the greatest artistic works of human genius. On the east coast, Kumar is the co-director of the Canandaigua Lake Music Festival, a summer chamber music series in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.
In addition to attending Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music, Kumar received the Jascha Heifetz Scholarship and his Advanced Studies in Music Diploma from the University of Southern California and Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University. He has studied with Alice Schoenfeld, Viktor Tretyakov, Linda Rose, and Gennady Kleyman and benefited from master classes with Dorothy Delay and other musical luminaries. In addition to an 1837 Rafael & Antonio Gagliano, he performs on a modern violin by Los Angeles maker Mario Miralles.