Kevin Gunter

kgunter@smu.edu

214.768.2695

Kevin Gunter

Senior Lecturer, Coordinator of Class Piano, Co-Director, SMU Institute for Young Pianists

Kevin Gunter serves as the class piano coordinator at Southern Methodist University, where he supervises graduate students in the Master of Music in Piano Performance/Pedagogy program and teaches undergraduates, both music majors and non-music majors. Gunter holds degrees in piano from Samford University and Southern Methodist University, where he studied with Dr. Betty Sue Shepherd and Dr. David Karp, respectively. During the summers, Gunter is the co-director of the SMU Institute for Young Pianists, which hosts exceptional pre-college piano students from around the nation. He also teaches in the SMU Lifelong Learning program, hosting a weekly master class for adults. 

In association with The Cliburn, Gunter serves as a Program Host for Cliburn in the Classroom, a music education program designed to introduce young audiences to classical music. Cliburn in the Classroom is presented annually to more than 57,000 public elementary students across North Texas. The programs are offered at no cost to participating schools.

Gunter maintains a small but active studio of pre-college students in SMU's Piano Preparatory Department, and his students have earned first prizes in Dallas Piano Solo, Dallas Symphonic, DMTA Jazz/Pop, the TMTA (Texas Music Teachers Association) State Composition contest, TMTA State Solo contest (local and regional) and other competitions. His students have performed twice in recitals and master classes at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in Chicago. His students also recently attended summer festivals such as the Piano Academy at Indiana University and the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy. Most recently, his students won First Prize in the senior-level category of both the 2019 Dallas Piano Solo Competition and the 2019 DMTA Jazz/Pop Competition, as well as a Top-10 finish in the 2019 Claudette Sorel International Piano Competition in New York.

Gunter is an active musical director and performer in the Dallas theatre scene. He has given hundreds of performances in over 70 different productions at theatres such as Uptown Players, WaterTower Theatre and Lyric Stage with acclaim from The Dallas Morning News, Dallas Culture Map, TheatreJones, Dallas Voice, Dallas Observer, BroadwayWorld and others. During the 2020 season, Gunter will serve as the conductor/musical director for the regional premiere of the 2018 Broadway Musical Head Over Heels, as well as the celebrated Broadway Our Way at Uptown Players.

Gunter serves as Music Director/Conductor for the SMU “Broadway Anthems,” a collaboration with SMU Meadows students, as well as fellow professors, Virginia Dupuy, Sara Romersberger, and Lane Harder. The troupe gave their first public performance at the 2019 Ima Leete Hutchison Concert at the SMU-in-Taos Cultural Institute in Taos, New Mexico, followed by performances at the Dallas Woman’s Club, SMU Owen Arts Center, and Northaven United Methodist Church. Additional performances throughout Dallas and Taos are scheduled for 2020.

Gunter is an active member of the Music Teachers National Association, as well as the Texas MTA and Dallas MTA. He is also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the professional men’s music fraternity, as well as Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Tau Delta. He presented his lecture, “Trending Now: Your Future with Adult Students” at the 2019 Music Teachers National Association Conference in Spokane, Washington, and he is published in the MTNA e-Journal. 

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