Kevin Keller

With his intimate piano, lush strings, and vast sonic spaces, Kevin Keller has inspired listeners for 30 years with his ambient chamber music. Growing up in Northern California, Keller started playing piano as a teen, eventually teaching himself to read music so that he could play Debussy. This early fascination with Impressionism later influenced Keller's style of "ambient chamber music." But his gateway into electronic music came when a friend introduced him to the sounds of Krautrock legends Tangerine Dream, synthesizer pioneer Klaus Schulze, and the ambient soundscapes of Brian Eno. 

Kevin says, “Albums like Phaedra and Mirage and On Land are unflinching in their exploration of darker themes. They drop you into this otherworldly place, and you never get out; you’re stuck there. You can travel around in it, but you won’t get out. It’s dark from beginning to end, and maybe once in a while, you might see a ray of sunlight popping through. That’s the music that got me excited back in high school. I made sure I was home every Saturday night to hear that week's Hearts of Space show. That's how I discovered all of those artists. I think of this as music for solitary exploration. The kind of music where you put on headphones, close your eyes and disappear. And maybe you’re accessing Timothy Leary’s ‘eighth circuit of the brain,’ the non-terrestrial quantum consciousness.” 

Now in his third decade as a recording artist, Keller has become a favorite on Hearts of Space and Echoes, with his albums named "CD of the Month" and winning two ZMR Awards for "Best Neo-Classical Album." Beyond that, he regularly receives commissions from ballet companies and has recently moved into the field of film and television scores. Keller has also worked with cellists Clarice Jensen and David Darling, as well as Kronos Quartet and the JACK Quartet.