Kenji Bunch

Other recent works include commissions from Oregon Symphony (Time In and Aspects of an Elephant), Chamber Music Northwest (Vesper Flight, and Ralph's Old Records), the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society (the still, small voice), Eugene Ballet (The Snow Queen), Seattle Symphony (Groovebox Variations), Traverse City Symphony, MI (Concerto for Piano Left Hand), Peter Britt Festival (Song of Sasquatch), 45th Parallel Universe (Wildflower, and Folie à deux) Lark Quartet (Megalopolis), Grant Park Music Festival (Symphony no. 3: Dream Songs), Music From Angel Fire (Shadowbox), Orchestra Engagement Lab (Embrace for electric violin and orchestra), Chamber Music America (Serenade for Ivy Street Ensemble), Third Angle New Music (Triple Jump), Eastman School of Music (String Quartet no. 2: Concussion Theory for Ying Quartet), American Composers Orchestra (The Devil's Box for viola and orchestra), Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music (Supermaximum for string orchestra), Colorado, Marin, Winnipeg Symphonies (Piano Concerto), Ahn Trio: “Lullaby For My Favorite Insomniac,” Lenny Kravitz: “It's Time For A Love Revolution,” Joshua Bell: “Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell and Friends.”

All-Bunch concerts have been mounted in New York City, Boston, Denver, Nashville, Mobile, and Portland, as well as at the Perpignon Conservatoire in southern France, the Stamford Festival in England, and The Oranjewoud Festival in The Netherlands.

His dance collaborations include work with such choreographers as Toni Pimble, David Parsons, Nai-Ni Chen, Kate Skarpetowska, Paul Vasterling, and Darrell Grand Moultrie.

Bunch's film credits include The Bellman Equation and The Argentum Prophecies, and his extensive discography includes recordings on Sony/BMG, EMI Classics, Koch, Kleos Classics, RCA, Naxos, Pony Canyon, GENUIN, Capstone, MSR Classics, Innova, ARS, and Crystal labels.

Kenji Bunch (born July 27, 1973) is an American composer and violist.

Bunch currently serves as the artistic director of Fear No Music and teaches at Portland State University, Reed College, and for the Portland Youth Philharmonic.

He is also the director of MYSfits, the most advanced string ensemble of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony.

Known for "amalgamating traditional American musical forms... and European-based classical music," Bunch's work for chamber ensemble, orchestra and ballet often incorporates elements of hip hop, jazz, bluegrass and funk to critical acclaim.

Over sixty American orchestras have performed his music.

His film credits include The Bellman Equation and The Argentum Prophecies. His discography includes recordings on Sony/BMG, EMI Classics, Koch, Kleos Classics, RCA, Naxos, Pony Canyon, GENUIN, Capstone, MSR Classics, Innova, ARS, and Crystal labels.

Bunch graduated from Wilson High School (Portland, Oregon) in 1991 having performed in the Portland Youth Philharmonic for five years (1986–1991).

He then attended The Juilliard School, where he was the first student ever to receive dual Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in viola performance (studying with Toby Appel) and composition (studying with Robert Beaser).

In 1998, Bunch became a Young Concert Artists’ Composer-in-Residence, as chosen by a panel of distinguished YCA alumni.

Over sixty American orchestras have performed Bunch's music, which "reache(s) into every section of the orchestra to create an intriguing mixture of sonic colors".

As the inaugural Composer in Residence for the Moab Music Festival (2021), Bunch composed Lost Freedom: A Memory in collaboration with and starring actor George Takei as the narrator of his own writings, interwoven with chamber ensemble.

Boiling Point for amplified string quartet, bass, and drumset (2002)

According to The Oregonian, Kenji Bunch has won “a reputation as one of the nation's finest and most listener-friendly composers of his generation.”

"Bunch succeeds masterfully... He combines a modernist vocabulary with flourishes of the romantic, with little trace of the avant-garde; old-fashioned ears will drink this music in. Still it's unpredictable enough to delight those who yearn for something new and original... the magical music stands strongly on its own."

This quote is excerpted from a Seattle Post-Intelligencer review of Bunch's music for The Snow Queen, a full-length ballet released as a two-CD set from Innova Recordings featuring Brian McWhorter conducting Orchestra Next.

Following the Marin Symphony's performance of Bunch's Piano Concerto featuring soloist Monica Ohuchi, San Francisco Classical Voice wrote, "highly enjoyable music…merging classical and pop music elements into an attractive, relatively unchallenging mix that's in tune with the current eclectic plateau of musical fashion."

String Circle for string quartet (2005)

Monica's Notebook performance etudes for solo piano (2010–11)

Supermaximum for string orchestra (2011) or full orchestra (2013)

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2011)

Since 2014, Bunch has served as artistic director of Fear No Music, following a year as interim director of Fear No Music's Young Composers Project in 2013.

Known for their forward-thinking programming, "Fear No Music's husband-and-wife leadership team—Artistic Director Kenji Bunch and Executive Director Monica Ohuchi —have spent the past five years making FNM the best kind of Portland hybrid: a classical ensemble with unimpeachable performance credentials, a love for local and contemporary composers, and a mature sense of social justice and responsibility."

Bunch is also the Director of MYSfits, the Metropolitan Youth Symphony's self-conducted string orchestra.

Under Bunch's leadership, the group embraces non-traditional, multi-style music from fiddle to funk, and group composition and improvisation.

Bunch teaches viola performance & composition at Portland State University, viola performance at Reed College, and is the Head Music Theory Instructor for the Portland Youth Philharmonic.

Time In for orchestra (2021)

Lost Freedom: A Memory for narrator and chamber ensemble (2021)

The Snow Queen large ensemble, incidental music for the ballet (2016)

Aspects of an Elephant for orchestra (2017)

the still small voice for string octet (2020)