Record
Selected coverage of Beau Kenyon's work across composition, public installation, and cultural practice.
2022
Of Gravity and Light
Contemporary ballet for 9 dancers, 9 musicians, and choir. Premiered at the Des Moines Civic Center, April 22, 2022. Produced by Ballet Des Moines in partnership with NASA, PBS, and GBH.
DSM Magazine
Feature / Print + Digital
March 8, 2022
"The new show showcases music by Des Moines composer Beau Kenyon... supplementing the show with a science curriculum that helps middle schoolers use music and dance to understand the solar system."
Little Village
Feature
April 18, 2022
"Everyone needs a show like this. The more new work we have, not just in Des Moines but throughout the country, the less of a risk it will be perceived as."
Iowa PBS
Documentary / Broadcast
June 10, 2022
Of Gravity and Light — Iowa PBS Performances
"This beautiful, interdisciplinary work exemplifies how the universal language of music and movement can make abstract concepts more human and accessible."
PBS
National Broadcast
Creston News
Preview
February 3, 2022
Ballet Des Moines
World Premiere Documentation
April 2022
Of Gravity and Light — World Premiere
"Beau Kenyon has cultivated a deeply collaborative practice, making interdisciplinary dialogue, research, and curiosity fundamental to his approach."
2022
Reach You
Augmented reality public artwork. World premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, Official Selection — Immersive Category. With Jonah and Katrina Goldsaito.
Voices of VR
Podcast / Tribeca XR
2022
Tribeca XR: Bringing Slow Media & The Tenderness of Now to AR Storytelling with ReachYou
Sound score and concept by Beau Kenyon
2019
River Constellation
Permanent outdoor sound, sculpture, and light installation at Des Moines Water Works Park. With sculptor Natalia Zubko. Presented by the Krause Family Foundation.
DSM Magazine
Cover Feature
2019
River Constellation — Cover Feature
"River Constellation is a love poem to Water Works Park." — Beau Kenyon
Iowa NPR
Radio / Audio Story
Des Moines Register
News
Des Moines Register
News
Creston News
Feature
October 23, 2019
Creston native composes music for Des Moines sculpture
"It feels like it belongs there, but it also feels a little bit magical."
Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation
Documentation
900 Views Podcast
Podcast / Interview
2018
The House of Accumulated Beauties
Commissioned by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in collaboration with Choreographer-in-Residence Peter DiMuro. Score and sound environments by Beau Kenyon. Supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Boston Foundation.
Boston Globe
Feature Review
October 11, 2018
A Choreographer's 'Chorus of Isabellas' Animates the Gardner Museum
"The soft clack of a typewriter in Kenyon's score suggests America's burgeoning industrial age... Gardner would be pleased."
WBUR
Feature / Radio
October 19, 2018
At The Gardner, Choreographer Peter DiMuro Creates Dancing Tour In The Vibrant Spirit Of Isabella
"The score, by award-winning composer Beau Kenyon, also features what sounds like the clacking of a keyboard, piano trills and chimes."
Dance Informa
Review
October 29, 2018
Small Visitations in a Near Empty Room: Beauty in perspective
Dance Magazine
Year-End Recognition
2018
the SOUND
City-wide multimedia and performance installation series across seven Boston venues including the Boston Public Library, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Pao Arts Center, and the Emerald Necklace. Funded by the New England Foundation for the Arts.
Broadway World
Announcement / Feature
September 6, 2018
The Boston Sun
Feature
Boston Magazine
Feature
Boston Magazine
Preview
2018
Artist in Residence — Northeastern University Center for the Arts
Year-long residency at Northeastern University's College of Arts, Media and Design, including a multidisciplinary public performance series and faculty appointment.
Hyperallergic
Announcement
December 18, 2018
"I am thrilled to be joining Northeastern's College of Arts, Media and Design — a cohort of creators and collaborators who are not only generating new ideas, they are putting them into practice."
2016
Composer-in-Residence — Boston Public Library
First-ever composer-in-residence at the Boston Public Library. Produced And all the men and women merely players — a 70-minute site-specific performance installation throughout the Central Branch at Copley Square.
WGBH
Feature
2016
Beau Kenyon, the first-ever composer in residence at the Boston Public Library
Research
Music Cognition
Peer-reviewed research examining the relationship between musical training and executive function, conducted at the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Primary Publication
Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Executive Functioning in Musicians and Non-Musicians
Zuk J, Benjamin C, Kenyon A, Gaab N
PLoS ONE · June 17, 2014 · Vol. 9(6): e99868 · DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099868
532
Citations
Funded by the Grammy Foundation. Conducted at Boston Children's Hospital Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Selected Citing Literature
Frontiers in Psychology
Systematic Review · 2022
2022
Effects of Music Training in Executive Function Performance in Children: A Systematic Review
Cites Zuk et al. 2014 across cognitive flexibility, working memory, and verbal fluency domains.
Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft
Systematic Review · Springer · 2022
2022
The Impact of Music Training on Executive Functions in Childhood: A Systematic Review
Cites Zuk et al. 2014 on set shifting and processing speed in musically trained children.
PMC / Frontiers
Research Article · 2023
2023
Musical Expertise and Executive Functions in Experienced Musicians
Cites Zuk et al. 2014 in foundational literature on cognitive benefits of musical training.
Memory & Cognition · Springer
Research Article · 2018
2018
Individual Differences in Musical Training and Executive Functions: A Latent Variable Approach
Cites Zuk et al. 2014 on working memory performance in musicians vs. non-musicians.
MIT Press
Publication · 2018
2018
Listening to the City: Community Research and Action through Sound and Story
MIT Community Innovators Lab (CoLab). A handbook exploring how sound and the human voice can enrich our understanding of place and community.