Biography
Kiran Steele (he/him/il) is a musician from Halifax, Nova Scotia who specializes in percussion performance. Kiran began playing drum kit in 2013 and studied with Al Resk from 2013-2020 at Long & McQuade Halifax. He then studied classical percussion with Dr. Joël Cormier at Mount Allison University from 2020-2024. He has also worked with the members of Architek Percussion and TorQ Percussion. Through his studies, Kiran has gained experience performing in a variety of contexts. Highlights include two 60-minute solo recitals, over 20 solo and chamber performances in Mount Allison’s weekly Collegium Musicum series, dozens of ensemble concerts, three experiences playing in musical pit bands, and many gigs as a working jazz/pop drummer. He has also performed in events as part of the Barachois Summer Music Festival, Jeunesses Musicales Nouveau Brunswick, and Scotia Festival of Music. Kiran’s performance style draws on his interpersonal experiences and emotional states. He aims to crafts stories through music and communicate thoughts and feelings that will resonate with audiences. An avid music listener, Kiran’s favourite musical genres include classic and hard rock, jazz and jazz fusion, classic and contemporary pop, funk, and post-punk. His favourite percussion performers and composers include Keiko Abe, Casey Cangelosi, Pius Cheung, Paul Smadbeck, and Ivan Trevino.
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Academically, Kiran enjoys exploring music theory, musicology, composition, arranging, and pedagogy. His work with Mount Allison professors Alan Dodson, Linda Pearse, Kiera Galway, and Kevin Morse has helped him hone his skills in these fields. Between 2021-2024, Kiran worked as a teaching assistant for Dr. Dodson’s music theory courses and presented multiple original compositions in Dr. Morse’s biannual composition concerts. Kiran’s educational philosophy of making music activities accessible to everyone and celebrating individuality stems from the philosophies of Dr. Galway’s music education classes. From 2021-2023, Kiran participated in the research project “Challenging Embedded Colonial Narratives,” funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and co-directed by Drs. Margaret Walker of Queen’s University, Sandra P. Bouliane of l’Université Laval, and Linda Pearse. Along with other research assistants, Kiran helped create a repertory of sources that expose colonial ideologies in music history narratives before 1750 and detail the intersections between music and sociopolitical topics. He also independently researched the history of jazz in apartheid-era South Africa. Kiran’s work with the SSHRC lab afforded him the opportunity to give three lectures for Dr. Pearse’s musicology courses between 2022-2024. He also travelled to Québec City in May 2023 to present the lab’s research in the MUSCan Dialogues Conference.
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Kiran holds a Bachelor of Music degree with a minor in French from Mount Allison University. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Performance degree at Western University, where he studies with Richard Burrows.
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Download Kiran's long and short bios here
