MEET THE DIRECTOR

A central Louisiana native, Kevin Tison began his musical education with piano study at the age of thirteen. After becoming his church’s pianist just one year later, it became apparent that piano was going to be a lifelong passion! Over the past thirty years, his professional work in music has spanned various roles as a conductor, educator, pianist, arranger, and vocalist. He is in his twenty-first year teaching high school choral music – with the past eighteen years at Fountain Valley High School in sunny Orange County, California.

At the conductor’s podium, his work has been extensive and varied from orchestras and choirs to directing musical and opera theater. He has also been featured as a performer on organ, harpsichord, French horn, percussion, and voice, in addition to piano. Last year Mr. Tison was the featured soloist of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, performing with the Baytown Symphony Orchestra (Houston, Texas) and guest soloist with the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony (Natchitoches, Louisiana) – his alma mater.

Choirs under Mr. Tison’s direction have performed and received the highest acclaim at regional, state and national levels, from Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor to New York’s Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he has planned and led music tours throughout Hong Kong, China, Macau, France, British Columbia, Romania, Germany, Austria, England, Denmark, Italy, Croatia, New Zealand, and Australia – performing in venues as remarkable as Bath Abbey, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Concert Hall, the Sydney Opera House,Cathédrale Notre-Dame, St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, and Vienna’s Stephansdom. Most recently the Troubadours visited their 5th continent, performing across Portugal, Morocco and Spain, concluding with a spectacular concert performance in the Crypt of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Mr. Tison’s work as an educator, clinician, adjudicator, and performer has been featured in MENC’s Teaching Music magazine. He has also been named an Orange County Arts Educator of the Year, Fountain Valley High School Teacher of the Year, along with many other acknowledgements across California and the nation. Mr. Tison has conducted at National Conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) in Chicago (2011), Minneapolis (2017), and most recently at the Western Division Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah in March 2020.

Making his home in beautiful Long Beach, California, Mr. Tison loves spending time with friends while enjoying the ocean, mountains, and deserts of Southern California. He is an avid pilot, endurance athlete, diver, hiker, and national park enthusiast – always packed and ready for the next adventure.

–

Contact: ktison@hbuhsd.edu

CONNECT