Guy Kelpin

From Wind Repertory Project
Guy Kelpin

Biography

Guy Allen Kelpin (b. 30 November 1976, Waukesha, Wisc) is an American composer and musician.

In early elementary school, he began piano lessons through Project Create, an arts program at Carroll College, and continued piano study through his late teens. Before he was ten, Guy had expressed a strong curiosity in composing. His first ambitions included several suites for piano, two highly imaginative operettas based on original stories, and a few small symphonic works that were decidedly Classical in style. In sixth grade, Guy was recommended for the Waukesha Public Schools' Gifted and Talented Program. As a result, he met James Machan, with whom he began to study music theory, history, and composition. During his six-year term with Machan, Kelpin continued to develop his interest in music of varied styles and traditions. Armed with new knowledge and composition skills, he produced many new pieces. His Romanza for woodwind choir was performed by an ensemble from Butler Middle School at the WSMA solo and ensemble contest. Stepping slowly away from the eighteenth century, he wrote a number of songs in the Romantic German Lied style. A set of these won Guy his first of several prizes from the WSMA composition contest. A more emotionally and technically advanced Abendlied provided him with yet another WSMA award.

Kelpin's first whole-hearted plunge into twentieth century music was his Suite for Band, a large multi-movement composition that established the style for his work as a teenager. The suite was also given a 1st-prize award by WSMA and received several performances, including the Waukesha North H.S. Symphonic Winds, the UW-Milwaukee Youth Wind Ensemble, and the Waukesha Area Symphonic Band. The suite features idiomatic wind writing and a collage of modern techniques that the composer had learned in recent years. It also foreshadowed Kelpin's later efforts in its use of programmatic elements.

In May of 1999, Guy graduated magna cum laude from Illinois Wesleyan University with a Bachelor's degree in music. He was elected as a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society, and served as the vice president of the Alpha Lambda chapter of Phi Mu Alpha. At IWU, he studied composition with Dr. David Vayo and Dr. Phillippe Bodin. In 1999, Kelpin enrolled as a graduate student at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he pursued a degree in film music. He has aspirations to use his skills as a composer in the movie industry; his interest in music of a programmatic nature helped lead to that decision.

Guy is active as a teacher of private trombone lessons, which he plans to continue in the future. His favorite hobby is collecting and listening to recordings, and he feels strongly that live performance is one of the most things our society has to cherish.


Works for Winds


Resources