Ken Graves

Education

• B.Mus., University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
• M.Mus., University of Southern California

Kenneth Graves is the Principal Clarinet of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and Meridian Symphony Orchestra. He has been on faculty at Belhaven University since 2010, providing individual clarinet instruction and performing with other Music Department faculty members. He also serves as an adjunct clarinet instructor for other local colleges, including Millsaps College and Mississippi College, and maintains an active private studio.

Kenneth has been a featured concerto soloist with the MSO and spends his summers performing in the FestivalSouth Music Festival in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He has participated in the National Orchestral Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, Music Academy of the West, Idyllwild Music Festival, and Spoleto Festival USA. An active chamber musician, Kenneth has appeared with the Colburn Chamber Music Society, National Orchestral Institute Faculty Chamber Series, and FestivalSouth Chamber Series.

Originally from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Kenneth left home at the age of seventeen to pursue clarinet study with Robert Listokin at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. After graduating from UNCSA, he earned his bachelor’s degree in music performance from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Richie Hawley, and a master’s degree from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where he studied with Yehuda Gilad. Before obtaining his MSO position, Kenneth spent a year at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Yehuda Gilad, played chamber music, and performed with the Colburn Orchestra.

He lives with his wife and two children in Brandon, MS, and enjoys yoga, pickleball, and traveling.