After earning music composition degrees from Berklee College of Music (B.M., 2004) and Tufts University (M.A., 2007), I dedicated a decade of research and practice to the fields of cognitive neuroscience (pub. Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Executive Functioning in Musicians and Non-Musicians. PLoS ONE. 2014), curiosity-based teaching practices, and community engagement strategies (pub. Listening to the City: Community Research and Action through Sound and Story. MIT CoLab. 2018). In 2016, I became the first composer-in-residence for the Boston Public Library, producing an hour-long public performance installation staged throughout the iconic Boston landmark (and all the men and women merely players 2017). I have since created a portfolio of performance installations that explore non-linear storytelling for organizations, including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (House of Accumulated Beauties 2018) and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (the SOUND), with support from the New England Foundation for the Arts, Northeastern Center for the Arts, the Boston Foundation, and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
My musical palette encompasses both traditional orchestration and musique concrète techniques, drawing from a wide range of systems, tonalities, and genres. My permanent multimedia sculpture, River Constellation (2019, in collaboration with Brooklyn sculptor Natalia Zubko) responds to the landscape and soundscape of the Des Moines Water Works Park, layering together musical phrases that are consonant with nearby traffic and trains as well as native bird songs. Tell Me (2020, in collaboration with Boston artist Yu-Wen Wu) is a single channel video, featuring a film score comprised of recorded stories from first-generation refugees, found/fabricated sounds, choir and cello, first exhibited at SITE Santa Fe.
I have earned national and international residencies, fulfilled numerous commissions, and presented my work locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. I am currently on faculty at the College of Arts, Media + Design at Northeastern University, where I teach graduate coursework in arts administration and cultural entrepreneurship. For more information about my arts and education leadership practice, visit oakleycollective.org.
Arts LEADERSHIP
2019 - present | Founding Principal | Oakley Collective | Boston, MA & Des Moines, IA
2021 - present | Board Member | Boston Art Review | Boston, MA
2019 - present | Member | Association of Arts Administration Educators
2018 - present | Lecturer | Northeastern University, College of Arts, Media and Design | Graduate Studies, M.S. Arts Administration and Cultural Entrepreneurship | Courses: Planning for Arts Organizations, Experiential Study in Arts Administration, Innovative Approaches to Audience Engagement, and Advocacy and the Arts
2020 - 2022 | Transition Board Member | The Des Moines Social Club | Des Moines, IA
2020 - 2022 | Mainframe Studios. Des Moines, IA | Strategic Initiative and Professional Development: Iowa Creative Incubator | Collaborate closely with Executive Director, Siobhan Spain, to build a new professional development opportunity for Greater Des Moines Artists. The Incubator provides a 4-month fellowship for five artists, who receive personalized coaching sessions, workshops, and opportunities to forge cross-institutional partnerships throughout the city, resulting in a new project or artwork. Co-designed the program, facilitated jury selection, designed and facilitated professional development curriculum
2020 - 2022 | Throughline Arts. Cedar Rapids, IA | Strategic Programming: Professional Development for Arts Integration | Collaborate with founder, Christina Farrell, to build a stakeholder engagement strategy for a core Throughline Arts Teaching Artist Program; envision and build an approach and funding structure to engage new partners; co-facilitate professional development for Iowa Teaching Artists
2020 - 2021 | The Kennedy Center Turnaround Arts Program. Des Moines, IA | Professional Development | Worked closely with the Turnaround Arts Integration Specialist to develop new strategies for integrating creative technology in the classroom; led a professional development workshop series to better integrate sound recording and voice recording technology into classroom units
2017 - 2019 | Community Advisory Board Member | WGBH
RESIDENCIES
2021 - 2022 | Composer in Residence, Ballet Des Moines
2019 - 2020 | Assets for Artists Fellow, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
2018 - 2019 | Artist in Residence, Fayerweather Street School
2018 - 2019 | Artist in Residence, Northeastern University, College of Arts, Media and Design
2018 - 2019 | Creative City Fellow, New England Foundation for the Arts
2017 - 2017 | Collaborative Interdisciplinary Residency, SÍM Residency. Reykjavík, Iceland
2016 - 2017 | Composer in Residence, Boston Public Library
2007 - 2007 | Composition Residency, Tufts in Talloires. Talloires, France
2005 - 2005 | Composition Residency, Friends of Music Association. Nicosia, Cyprus
SELECTED GUEST LECTURES & PUBLICATIONS
2019 | Guest Lecture, Creative Cognition: Northeastern University, College of Arts Media and Design
2019 | Panelist, College Arts Association Conference
2018 | Presenter, Building Residencies, Connecting Communities through Art: Massachusetts Library Association
2018 | Artist Talk, Thinking Like a Composer: Tufts University
2018 | Guest Lecture, Music Entrepreneurship: Tufts University
2018 | Artist Talk, Creating Space for Cross-Institutional Partnerships in Public Art: Northeastern University, CAMD
2018 | Guest Lecture, Music and Social Justice: Northeastern University, College of Arts Media and Design
2018 | Presenter, Building Residencies, Connecting Communities through Art: Massachusetts Library Association Convention
2017 | Artist Talk, Creative Dialogue: Kingsborough Art Museum
2018 | Content Contributor. Listening to the City: Community Research and Action through Sound and Story. MIT Co-Lab
2014 | Zuk, Benjamin, Kenyon, Gaab. “Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Executive Functioning in Musicians and Non-Musicians.” PLoS ONE
PRESS
Hyperallergic | Northeastern University Welcomes Composer & Sound Artist Beau Kenyon as Artist in Residence & Lecturer
Des Moines Register | Multimedia sculpture being assembled at Des Moines Water Works Park this week
Des Moines Register | Dedication of immersive sculpture in Water Works Park set for December
Creston News Advertiser | Composer Beau Kenyon of Creston and sculptor Natalia Zubko bring multimedia art piece to Des Moines
Iowa Public Radio | Crews installing sculpture at Des Moines Water Works Park
900 Views with Pat Body | Composer and Sound Artist Beau Kenyon returns to Iowa after 20 years in Boston to help create River Constellation
Broadway World | NEFA's Creative City Announces THE SOUND by Beau Kenyon
Boston Magazine | The Fog Sculptures Are Here and They Are Indeed Crazy Cool: Fujiko Nakaya’s Fog x FLO now adorns the Emerald Necklace
Boston Magazine | Crazy Cool Fog Sculptures Are Coming to the Emerald Necklace Public
The Boston Sun | Emerald Necklace Fog Sculptures Open to the Public
The Boston Sun | Local sound artist and composer brings immersive sound art to seven Boston neighborhoods
Boston Globe | A Choreographer’s ‘Chorus of Isabellas’ Animates the Gardner Museum
Dance Informa | ‘Small Visitations in a Near Empty Room’: Beauty in perspective
WBUR | At The Gardner, Choreographer Peter DiMuro Creates Dancing Tour In The Vibrant Spirit Of Isabella
Dance Magazine | Season Preview: Your Guide to the Hottest Dance Tickets of 2018–19
City of Boston | Boston Public Library Announces Composer-in-Residence Program
WGBH | Beau Kenyon, the first-ever composer in residence at the Boston Public Library
New Musica | Looking Forward, Looking Back
Cleveland Classical | LCCC Signature Series: Transient Canvas
Harvard Graduate School of Education | Tracing links between musical training & executive function, bolstering the case for music in schools
ACADEMIC HISTORY
2005 - 2007 | Graduate Student & Teaching Assistant | Tufts University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences | M.A. in Music Composition with highest honors | Full Tuition Achievement Scholarship (2005 - 2007)
2000 - 2004 | Undergraduate Student | Berklee College of Music | B.M. with high honors in Music Composition | Berklee Achievement Scholarship for Piano Performance (2000 - 2004)