Miller Outdoor Theatre: American Masterworks

Scotland-based American conductor Kellen Gray 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.
Since the end of 2023, he serves as associate artist of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, a newly created role that sees him conduct, curate, and present programs across the RSNO’s series offerings, following his highly successful tenure as the orchestra’s assistant conductor (2021-23).

Kellen credits the many folk music styles of the southeastern 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, among others.

A passionate champion for African-diasporic composers, Kellen was the founder and 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 and 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.

Previous positions in Kellen’s formative years as a conductor included successful tenures with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (associate conductor, 2018-23), Chicago Sinfonietta (conducting fellow and assistant conductor, 2016-18), and Valdosta Symphony Orchestra (assistant conductor, 2014-16).

Recent and forthcoming guest conducting highlights include engagements with such orchestras as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington), Oregon Mozart Players, Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Seattle Opera, among others.