Kevin Kyaw is a pianist, educator, arranger and arts advocate from Myanmar. He started learning the piano at the age of 12 and spent most of his childhood in Myanmar self-studying the instrument. During his first year of undergraduate studies in mechatronic engineering in Myanmar, he met Kimball Gallagher and Kaiyin Huang, two concert pianists from the United States and Taiwan, who ignited his passion in pursuing music as his lifelong aspiration.
Under their guidance, Kevin won a full scholarship to attend Missouri Western State University (MWSU) where he was a student of Nathanael May and graduated summa cum laude. He then went on to study with Jack Winerock at the University of Kansas (KU) where he worked as a teaching assistant and earned a M.M. in Piano Performance on a full scholarship. Kevin is currently a first-year D.M.A. student at SUNY Stony Brook where he has been awarded a full scholarship and a teaching assistantship to study with Christina Dahl.
Kevin has performed in four continents at venues such as the City Hall of Yangon in Myanmar, Sala dei Notari in Italy, the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan, as well as the Acropolium of Carthage in Tunisia. He has performed at international music festivals such as the Myanmar Music Festival, Music Fest Perugia, Maccagno Piano Days Festival, soundSCAPE Festival, and ATLAS Music Academy. He has also performed as a soloist with MWSU Symphony Orchestra and Virtuosi Brunenses Orchestra. Kevin was named a first-prize winner at the Kansas State MTNA-Steinway Young Artist Piano Competition, MWSU Concerto/Aria Competition, ATLAS Music Academy Competition, and Philharmonic Society of Myanmar Festival Competition.
Kevin is also a passionate educator. He has extensive teaching experiences ranging from working with beginning students to college-level music majors. In addition to private piano instruction, he currently teaches Elements of Music, an introductory music theory course for undergraduate students across different disciplines at Stony Brook University. Previously, he served as the Director of the KU Community Music School, as well as the Head Music Teacher at Khayay International School in Yangon, Myanmar, where he taught group and private piano classes, and led music activities for children as young as three. He has also been an artist-teacher for the Music Society of Myanmar Festival and Competition in 2020, and most recently, he was a presenter at the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music’s “Traditions in Transition” Online Symposium. Kevin is also a member of the ongoing 30 under 30 SEADOM Initiative (Southeast Asian Directors of Music).
Aside from teaching and performing, Kevin enjoys making arrangements of Burmese popular and folk music. As an arranger, Kevin has worked with esteemed Burmese traditional musicians such as Myanmar Pyi Kyauk Sein and U Sein Kalar, as well as acclaimed pop figures such as May Sweet. A strong advocate for building the classical music scene in his home country, Kevin serves as Assistant Artistic Director of the Myanmar Music Festival.