Professional Biography

Kai is an active collaborator, musician, birder, photographer, and field recordist who enjoys combining various interests in collaborative projects. As a pianist, he has played extensively with his brother Ben, a violinist, and various other chamber groups. Kai and Ben have released two EPs with Oregon Composer Thomas Meinzen, the latest of which, Skyward, includes all environmentally themed pieces. He particularly enjoys exploring new music and collaborating with composers, which has led him to work with composers from around the world at places like the Yarn/Wire International Institute, SoundSCAPE Composer/Performer Exchange and Decoda Chamber Music Festival, along with multiple composers from his home state of Oregon. In addition to working extensively with small ensembles, Kai has worked with larger ensembles including accompanying the Lawrence University Choirs, playing in Lawrence University’s New Music Ensemble, where he performed for the 2025 American Composers Orchestra’s Earshot Reading Session, and improvising with Improvisation Group of Lawrence University where he performed both on piano and laptop. In his solo performances, he often brings in his interest in bird song by programming music inspired by the natural environment. For his senior experience at Lawrence University, Kai created a fully bird-themed concert featuring three world premieres by composers Thomas Meinzen, Brad Balliett, and Julia Tchira as well as special audio and lighting design to create an immersive audience experience. Kai received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance in 2025 from the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Dr. Michael Mizrahi, and is now pursuing a Masters in Piano Performance from Bowling Green State University where he studies with Dr. Robert Saterlee.

In his free time, Kai is an active birder, field recordist, and photographer. He has written about birds and birding for Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Black Swamp Bird Observatory, and the Oregon Birds magazine, and wrote a weekly bird column for the Lawrentian newspaper. In his teens, he served on the board of his local Audubon Society and helped launch the Young Birders Network (now the Global Young Birders Network). Kai is very interested in bird song, especially mimicry, and frequently records bird vocalizations as well as other natural sounds which he has used for performances, including Twitcher, which his friend Orson Abram composed for him. He has photographed over 600 species of birds, and his photographs appear in Cornell Lab’s Merlin Bird ID app, Birds Of The Pacific Northwest: A Photographic Guide (Second edition), Oregon Birds Magazine, and Lawrence Magazine. Kai also worked as conservatory photographer, videographer, and social media manager at the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, photographing major concert series, classes, and rehearsals and producing recruitment material such as department and faculty profile videos.