Kevin Penkin (born 22 May 1992) is a British-born Australian composer, primarily for

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

. He is best known for composing the score of the anime ''

Made in Abyss is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akihito Tsukushi. It has been serialized online in Takeshobo's digital publication ''Web Comic Gamma'' since October 2012, and has been collected into eleven ''tankōbon'' volumes. T ...

'', which won Best Score at the 2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards, and the score for the ''

Tower of God ''Tower of God'' () is a South Korean manhwa released as a webtoon written and illustrated by S.I.U. It has been serialized in Naver Corporation's webtoon platform Naver Webtoon since June 2010, with the individual chapters collected and publish ...

'' anime adaptation, which won Best Score at the

5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards The 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards were held on February 19, 2021, honoring excellence in anime from 2020. Crunchyroll announced the list of categories as well as the judges on December 16, 2020. They noted that the categories used in the previous e ...

Biography

Penkin was born on 22 May 1992 in

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, and grew up in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. Penkin's interest in

video game music Video game music (or VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to ...

started from when he first heard the "Phendrana Drifts" theme from ''

Metroid Prime ''Metroid Prime'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main installment in the '' Metroid'' franchise and the first game in the series to use 3D c ...

''; in a 2012 interview, he referred to the theme's electronic synths and

acoustic instruments Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the adven ...

as "absolute bliss". Penkin began his career with composition credits in the 2011 short films ''Play Lunch'' and ''The Adventures of Chipman and Biscuit Boy''. In the same year, Penkin composed the soundtrack of the video game ''Jūzaengi: Engetsu Sangokuden''; this soundtrack represented Penkin's first collaboration with

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Jo ...

. Penkin has continued to collaborate with Uematsu in titles such as ''

Norn9 is a 2013 otome game for PlayStation Portable. It was developed by Otomate and published by Idea Factory. A PlayStation Vita port, entitled ''Norn9: Var Commons'', was released on December 11, 2014. A fandisk titled ''Norn9: Last Era'' ...

'' and '' Defender's Quest II: Mists of Ruin''. In 2013, Penkin received a Bachelor of Music in Composition and Music Technology at

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Parliaments of the Australian states and territories, Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Aust ...

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in ...

. In 2015, Penkin graduated from the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

with a Master of Composition degree in Composition for Screen. His studies were supported by a grant from the

Tait Memorial Trust The Tait Memorial Trust MTis a charitable foundation, first established in the United Kingdom, with the chief purpose of providing financial support to outstanding young performing artists from Australia and New Zealand who wish to pursue post-gr ...

as the inaugural Tait Scholar at the Royal College of Music. In 2016, Penkin collaborated with

Kinema Citrus is a Japanese animation studio, founded on March 3, 2008, by former Production I.G and Bones members and based in Suginami, Tokyo. Its business directors are Muneki Ogasawara, Yuichiro Matsuka and Masaki Tachibana. Notable works include '' Tokyo ...

on the ''Norn9'' anime and the ''

Under the Dog is a 2016 Japanese original video animation. Originally a collaborative project between Creative Intelligence Arts and Kinema Citrus, and later a project solely produced by Kinema Citrus, it is a Kickstarter-funded anime project, released o ...

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

soundtracks. Penkin's relationship with Kinema Citrus continued through to 2017 for the soundtrack of ''

'', winning the 2017 Crunchyroll Anime Award for Best Score with it. In 2018, Penkin composed the score for the video game ''

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

''. Penkin composed the music for Kinema Citrus' anime adaptation of ''

The Rising of the Shield Hero is a Japanese dark fantasy ''isekai'' light novel series written by Aneko Yusagi. Originally published as a web novel in the user-generated novel site Shōsetsuka ni Narō, the series has since been published by Media Factory with an e ...

'' and

NetEase NetEase, Inc. () is a Chinese Internet technology company providing online services centered on content, community, communications, and commerce. The company was founded in 1997 by Ding Lei. NetEase develops and operates online PC and mobile game ...

's VR game ''Nostos'' in 2019. He composed the score for the 2020 anime adaptation of the South Korean webtoon ''

''. Penkin was working with artist

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts media (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between high and low arts as well as co ae ...

on the sequel to the movie ''

Jellyfish Eyes is a 2013 Japanese fantasy film directed by contemporary artist Takashi Murakami. His debut feature film, it was released in Japan on April 26, 2013. ''Jellyfish Eyes'' was released on Blu-ray in Japan on January 24, 2014; The Criterion Collectio ...

'', but the project was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In 2021, Penkin composed the score for "''The Village Bride''" short film in the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

anime anthology series '' Star Wars: Visions''. Penkin lived in the United Kingdom for some time, but now lives in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia.

Works

Video games

Anime/Film

Concert works

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Penkin, Kevin 1992 births Living people Alumni of the Royal College of Music Anime composers Australian film score composers Crunchyroll Anime Awards winners Male film score composers Musicians from Perth, Western Australia Video game composers