Growing up, he was mesmerized by the Fort Worth Symphony. Now, they’re playing his music
Kevin Day used to visit the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as a child, mesmerized by the sights and sounds. Now, his music will echo through Dickies Arena during the orchestra’s July 4 America Strong Concert.
“It’s really crazy that they’re going to be playing a piece of mine to open up this concert,” said Day, 25, who grew up in Arlington and graduated from TCU in 2019.
Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the orchestra’s music director, chose Day’s piece, “Lightspeed,” to open the concert because it is uplifting and charged with energy.
“Lightspeed” symbolizes what America is about, which is knowing how to move forward and come together despite our differences, Harth-Bedoya said. The tune has a pulse that runs through the very last note and will leave the audience whistling, Harth-Bedoya said.
Day said he wrote the three-minute “Lightspeed” to incite joy and excitement for what’s in store for a concert. The title is based on his love for the “Star Trek” and “Doctor Who.”
Bobby Francis, a music professor and director of bands at TCU, said Day’s music is a unique combination: It is something that’s fun to listen to while also having incredible musical content, and expression and groove.
“All of the musical elements were there in a package that was something that could be accessible by all audiences,” Francis said.
When an audience hears some of the things that they might find in pop, jazz or other musical idioms coming through in classical music, it can connect the composer, the musician, and the audience, said Neil Anderson-Himmelspach, an associate professor of music technology and music theory/composition at TCU.
“He can take a musical thought or a genre and expound on that in a very new and contemporary way that is both listenable and musically sophisticated,” Francis said.
The unique sound of Day’s music comes from his roots.
“My first interaction with music was through my parents,” he said.
His dad was a hip hop producer in the late 1980s, and his mom was a gospel singer. Day played piano by ear at church services, and his parents took him to hip hop and gospel rehearsals.
“I would sit and listen and try to mimic the sounds I was hearing,” Day said. “So that’s kind of what piqued my curiosity.”
Day was introduced to the world of composing when he was about 6 when his dad began to teach him how to write a beat and then put chords and a melody together.
But when Day first started at TCU, he wanted to be a performer (he majored in euphonium/ tuba performance). But he soon discovered composing was his true passion. He recently graduated with a with a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Georgia and in the fall will start his Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music.
At TCU, Anderson-Himmelspach pushed Day to incorporate parts of his background into his classical music.
“I love embracing the culture I grew up in and bringing that to the forefront of my music,” Day said. “I think, because of that, my music has had this evolution of beginning where I was kind of imitating what I was hearing all the time to now being able to create these unique worlds.”
Elements of jazz, hip hop and gospel are laced into Day’s works.
“These three areas of black American music — they’ve had a huge impact on what I do now,” Day said.
The orchestra regards the concert as a celebration of being able to get through the pandemic and looking forward to the coming season, said Keith Cerny, the orchestra’s president and CEO.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
“I think music is really a thing that connects us all,” Day said. “I feel like music is something that every culture has, that every part of human existence has. And so I’m just, just really blown away by what it can do and how it can bring people together and how it can provide comfort and refuge to those who need it as well as provide joy.”
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 11:10 AM.