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, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

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'', which won Best Score at the

2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards The 2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards were held on February 24, 2018, honoring excellence in anime from 2017. The nominees were announced on January 18. Voting began on January 22, and was held in three separate rounds from January 22 to February 11. T ...

, and the score for the '' Tower of God'' 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 ...

, 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 t ...

started from when he first heard the "Phendrana Drifts" theme from '' Metroid Prime''; 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 adve ...

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 ...

. 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 E ...

'' and ''

Defender's Quest ''Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten'' is a tower defense and role-playing video game developed by American studio Level Up Labs. Originally a flash game distributed on web gaming portals like Kongregate and Newgrounds, it later released ...

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 Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman. Gaining unive ...

's Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. In 2015, Penkin graduated from the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including perform ...

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 ''Tok ...

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 on A ...

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 ...

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

''. Penkin composed the music for Kinema Citrus' anime adaptation of '' The Rising of the Shield Hero'' 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 gam ...

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

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

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

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 metro ...

, 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