KRISHNAN Stephen

Stephen Krishnan is Grammy-Nominated guitarist and educator based in Austin, Texas. As a soloist and member of the Austin Guitar Quartet, he is an advocate for contemporary classical music, and often takes part in unique interdisciplinary projects. Among these projects are collaborations with Austin Classical Guitar, Ballet Austin, The Contemporary Austin, and the world-renowned choir Conspirare. Stephen was featured on Conspirare's album The Singing Guitar with the Austin Guitar Quartet, which received a Grammy Nomination in 2021. He directs the guitar program at the Orpheus Academy of Music, as well as the Austin Classical Guitar Youth Camerata, a large ensemble of young guitarists across Austin. He has studied with Bill Kanengiser at the University of Southern California, Adam Holzman at the University of Texas, and Alan Johnston at the MacPhail Center for Music.

Stephen's solo performances have been met with high praise. In Spring 2022 he made the premiere recording of Dusan Bogdanovic’s “About Time”, a piece dedicated to him by the composer. In Spring 2019 he premiered Matthew Lyons’ Guitar Concerto with the UT New Music Ensemble directed by Dan Welcher. His performance aired on KMFA’s radio show “Live from the Butler School”. He has won first place in two competitions, including the Schubert Club Scholarship Competition, and has received four prizes as a finalist. He has been featured by major concert presenters including Austin Classical Guitar,  the Guitar Foundation of America's Regional Symposium, the American Guitar Society , the University of Minnesota at Morris, Springboard for the Arts, and Tetractys New Music. In 2017 he was the dedicatee of a new microtonal work by the acclaimed Cypriot composer Hakki Cengiz Eren, which he premiered at the Austin-based new music series, Tetractys. He has been featured on radio programs such as Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music, NPR's From the Top,  KUT's Nuts and Bolts., and KMFA’s “Live from the Butler School”  In February 2017, Stephen was an Artist-In-Residence at Springboard for the Arts' Hinge Artists residency program in Fergus Falls, MN. During his two-week residency, he performed many concerts, gave talks, and worked on several recording projects.

Stephen's interest in early music led him to study baroque guitar and continuo with USC Professor and acclaimed lutenist Jason Yoshida. The USC Baroque Sinfonia, which Stephen performed in, was recently invited to perform a concert of Polish Baroque music at the 2016 Early Music America festival in Berkeley, CA. 

Stephen holds a Master's in Guitar Performance at the University of Southern California, where he was awarded the guitar department's Outstanding Master's Graduate. Prior to that, he completed his Bachelor's  in Music at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied with Adam Holzman.