Kyle Flens, (b.1991, Baltimore, MD), is a multi-faceted percussionist. Based in Chicago IL, he is a member of the chamber music collective Ensemble Dal Niente.
As a performer Kyle gravitates to experimental music written by composers of our time. This gravitation has led to concerts across the Western Hemisphere. Concert highlights include the Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enriquez (Mexico City, Mexico), the MetLiveArts concert series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the LA Philharmonic’s Noon to Midnight Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), the 5th International Festival of Percussion Ensembles (San José, Costa Rica), Institutio Inhotim (Minas Gerais, Brazil), the Winter Festival in Ouro Preto and Mariana (Minas Gerais, Brazil), and the Phillips Collection’s concert series (Washington DC). Kyle has premiered compositions by Eliza Brown, Anthony Cheung, Elliot Cole, Darcy Copeland, Julio Estrada, Luis Fernando Amaya, Ted Hearne, Erin Gee, Robert Honstein, Kyle Krause, Alexis C. Lamb, Brian Penkrot, Igor Santos, Ben Wahlund, and Katherine Young.
As an advocate for teaching about experimental music he has given educational clinics at Western Washington University, DePaul University, Instituto Nacional de la Música (San José, Costa Rica), the Juilliard School, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He has been in residency at University of California Davis, The Walden School, Brandeis University, Brown University, Stanford University, and the University of Maryland.
Kyle received his Master of Music with a Performer’s Certificate from Northern Illinois University and his Bachelor of Music from Towson University as a Presser Scholar. While at NIU, he was the winner of the school’s concerto competition and received a graduate fellowship award. Kyle has studied with Gregory Beyer, Patrick Roulet, Michelle Humphreys, and N. Scott Robinson.
As a former member of Arcomusical, Kyle can be heard on albums MeiaMeia on Innova Recordings and Spinning in the Wheel on National Sawdust Tracks. He can also be heard on New Works for Harp: Ben Malsky/Ensemble Dal Niente on New Focus Recordings. Since its release in 2016, MeiaMeia has been featured on WNYC, WBEZ, and NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. Kyle performs on Pearl Drums and Adams Percussion Instruments, and is honored to be an endorsed artist.
