Performing with Peter Blanchette & Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra
BIO & Artist statement
Read an interview with Anna Heller of Moving Classics
SHORT BIO
Kevin Germain lives with his family in New England, where he owns an occult bookstore and composes chamber music. Past works include a guitar and vocal arrangement of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder published by Edizioni Berben and a collaboration as an oud performer on Peter Blanchette’s Fantasy for Oud and Guitar Orchestra. His compositions have been performed by the Julius Quartet, Soli Chamber Ensemble, Carlos Marin Trigo, Anna Heller, Bowers Fader Duo, and others. 2024 Alba Music Festival Fellow, 2026 (Art) Song Lab. Kevin currently studies with Rodney Sharman and is working on a song cycle based on alchemical texts.
Artist Statement: My music explores contradictions and seeks the numinous, shaped by themes on alchemy, dreams, divine love, and occult symbolism. Whether writing for voice or instruments, I aim to evoke stillness and revelation—moments where sound becomes a vessel for the ineffable. Art song holds a central place in my practice.. Influenced by Mahler, Pärt, Schoenberg, and Fauré, my work merges Romantic emotion with minimalism and atonality. I strive to create music that feels otherworldly—sacred, contemplative, yet human.
LONG BIO
Kevin Germain’s music explores contradictions and seeks the numinous, drawing inspiration from alchemy, dreams, divine love, and occult symbolism. Whether writing for voice or instruments, his compositions aim to evoke stillness and revelation—moments where sound becomes a vessel for the ineffable. Art song lies at the center of his practice: words and images serve as points of departure, their rhythm and symbolism shaping the music. Influenced by Mahler, Pärt, Górecki, Schoenberg, and Fauré, Germain weaves together Romantic expressiveness, minimalism, and atonality to create music that feels otherworldly—sacred, contemplative, and deeply human.
Germain composes across traditions, from Turkish classical idioms to Western art music, with works spanning choral music, solo guitar, art song, string quartet, and pieces for Turkish oud and diverse ensembles. He has performed and improvised with groups including the Springfield Accordion Orchestra, Euphony Groove, Group Semai, the Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra, and the Cambridge Muziki Cemiyeti, embracing eclectic and improvisational traditions.
His recent work, Pastoral for String Quartet No. II: Mt. Tom, Yellow Autumnal Light of Ash and Birch (2021), was premiered by the Julius Quartet in 2022. Other notable achievements include his guitar and voice arrangement of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, published by Edizioni Berben (1996), and his performance as oud soloist in Peter Blanchette’s Fantasy for Oud and Guitar Orchestra (2010), based on the Hüseyni Saz Semaisi by Kemani Tatyos.
He studied jazz guitar with Bob Ferrier; Turkish makam with Feridun Özgören and Frederick Stubbs; and Western composition with William Maloof and Thomas McGah at Berklee College of Music. He also worked with the late Angelo Gilardino, editor at Edizioni Berben, on guitar engraving. Germain currently studies composition with Rodney Sharman and Saad Haddad 2024 Program Composition Fellow in the Alba Composition Program.
YouTube Channel
"I'm Hussain from Saudi Arabia. You don't know me but I've been listening to your HVGO Oud fantasy for the past few months and I just can't seem to get enough of it. It's beautifully orchestrated between Oud and Guitar and gorgeously played. I just love it."
"Awesome! A comeback to lute origins. European music with Middle Eastern flavor."
"Nice music." ~ Director, San Francisco Turkish Radio
"I am a big fan of the Sufi and Middle Eastern Music so I was very excited to hear your songs."
"Your playing of that instrument, it is as if it contains all the suffering from the whole world…"
" ... a fantastic musician, with an original, one-of-a-kind musical soul"
"I think these transcription elaborated by Germain offers a new, more intimate approach to them… a talented and well trained young guitarist-composer whom I am glad of having discovered."
Angelo Gilardino, Editor of Edizione Berben and Artistic Director of the "Andrés Segovia" Foundation. Italy
"Awesome! A comeback to lute origins. European music with Middle Eastern flavor."
"Nice music." ~ Director, San Francisco Turkish Radio
"I am a big fan of the Sufi and Middle Eastern Music so I was very excited to hear your songs."
"Your playing of that instrument, it is as if it contains all the suffering from the whole world…"
" ... a fantastic musician, with an original, one-of-a-kind musical soul"
"I think these transcription elaborated by Germain offers a new, more intimate approach to them… a talented and well trained young guitarist-composer whom I am glad of having discovered."
Angelo Gilardino, Editor of Edizione Berben and Artistic Director of the "Andrés Segovia" Foundation. Italy
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MP3 Samples and High Resolution Promotional Pictures:
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Projects:
1980's Springfield Accordion Orchestra 1990s Kudgel ~ Boston based noise band 1997 Kindertotenlieder Arranged for Guitar and Voice, published by Berben. Italy 2002 - 2005 Cambridge Muziki Cemiyeti ~ Turkish Classical Music 2004 - 2006 Euphony Groove ~ Free improvisatory "new world" music 2005 - 2009 Pioneer Valley Fiddlers ~ Old Time Fiddle Band 2008 - 2012 Rick Robert and Friends Kirtan ~ Chanting 2009 - 2011 Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra (HVGO) 2010 - 2012 Burhan ~ Sufi Chanting 2016 - present Duo of Oud and Arabic Qanun 2022 Performance of Pastoral for String Quartet (II) |
Recordings:
Kudgel, Chicken Pump / Now 7" (1992) Kudgel, Chimp Is Dead CD (1997) Dave Russell, 'Dancing in the Heart' CD (2009) Pioneer Valley Fiddlers, Fiddlin' Through the Holidays CD (2009) HVGO, Debut CD. (2010) |
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Compositions & Arrangements
Four Movements for Guitar 1995 Haiku for Guitar 1996 Langsamer Satz, Anton Webern for solo guitar 1997 Vita de la mita vita for Guitar & Voice 1998 Ich bin der Welt, Gustav Mahler for solo guitar 1998 Isabella or, The Pot of Basil No.1 & No. 53 for Guitar & Voice 1999 Etudes, Mazurkas & Preludes, Scriabin for solo guitar 1999 - 2013 Dans I'interminable for Guitar & Voice 2000 On the Embankment for Guitar & Voice 2000 Flos Lunae for Guitar & Voice 2000 Spleen for Guitar & Voice 2001 Piano Sonata Bb Major K.333 Mosart for Guitar 2001 A Mosaic for Guitar & Voice 2002 Ferafeza Semai for oud 2007 Hisarbuselik Pesrev fou oud 2008 Gemalong degung for Adapted Guitar 2008 Leap Year for Adapted Guitar 2008 Enharmonic Mobile for Guitar 2010 Phrygian for oud 2010 Mnenomic Hymm for oud 2010 Olympos Enharmonic for Guitar 2011 Little Minimalist Etudes with Intermissions for Guitar 2012 Mnenomic Hymm arranged for String Quartet 2020 Pastorals for String Quartet: I Eyrie House Mt Nonotuck for String Quartet 2021 II: Mt Tom, Yellow Autumnal Light of Ash and Birch for String Quartet 2022 III: Mt Holyoke, Winter Frost and Fog. for String Quartet 2022 IV: Whiting Peak, Vernal Pool with Red Newt 2023 Tractatus Motets Let Me Not Forget Voice and Piano. 2024 Ore, Fermate il Volo Baritone & Guitar. 2024 A Rare Rose Piano and Voice. 2024 Discipline voice and piano 2024 I am the rose of Sharon voice and piano 2024 Tintinnabuli Etudes (1-9) for Piano 2024-25 Twelve Keys of Basilius Valentinus: A Song Cycle: First Key: Alchemi for Soprano and Piano with narration. 2024 Introduction: L’Azoth Des Philosophes for Soprano and Piano with narration. 2024 Second Key: Chaos for Soprano and Piano with narration 2024 Third Key: Calor for Soprano and Piano with narration 2025 Fourth Key: Amor for Soprano and Piano with narration 2025 Fifth Key: Ignis for Soprano and Piano with narration 2025 Multitudes of transcriptions of Turkish & Greek music. |
Venues performed:
Northampton's Academy of Music Iron Horse Café Moca Maya P.A.C.E of Easthampton Calvin Theater Easthampton Old Town Hall Sweeny Hall Smith College Northampton Center for the Arts College of Holy Cross Tower Square Springfield Summit House Hadley Log Cabin Holyoke Boston Museum of Art ~ (Jahan-e-Khusrau: Sufi Music Festival) Middle East Restaurant Walt Disney World Paradise Lounge T.T The Bears Kripalu Yoga Center Abode of the Message Mahalo Arts Center Breath Studio The Loft in Brattleboro Dobrá Tea Northampton. radio stations: WERS, WZBC, WMUA |
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