Kevin Penkin

Kevin Penkin (born 22 May 1992) is a British-born Australian composer, primarily for video games and anime. He is best known for composing the score of the anime Made in Abyss, which won Best Score at the 2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards, and the score for the Tower of God anime adaptation, also won the same category at the fifth edition.^[1]

Kevin Penkin
Born	(1992-05-22) 22 May 1992 (age 33) United Kingdom
Origin	Perth, Western Australia
Genres	Orchestral ambient vocal video game music
Occupation	Composer
Years active	2011–present
Website	kpenkmusic.com

Biography

Penkin was born on 22 May 1992 in the United Kingdom,^[2][3] and grew up in Perth, Western Australia.^[4] Penkin's interest in video game music started from when he first heard the "Phendrana Drifts" theme from Metroid Prime;^[4] in a 2012 interview, he referred to the theme's electronic synths and acoustic instruments as "absolute bliss".^[4]

Penkin began his career with composition credits in the 2011 short films Play Lunch and The Adventures of Chipman and Biscuit Boy.^[4] 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.^[4] Penkin has continued to collaborate with Uematsu in titles such as Norn9 and Defender's Quest II: Mists of Ruin.^[5]

In 2013, Penkin received a Bachelor of Music in Composition and Music Technology at Edith Cowan University's Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. In 2015, Penkin graduated from the Royal College of Music with a Master of Composition degree in Composition for Screen.^[6] His studies were supported by a grant from the Tait Memorial Trust as the inaugural Tait Scholar at the Royal College of Music.^[7]

In 2016, Penkin collaborated with Kinema Citrus on the Norn9 anime and the Under the Dog original video animation soundtracks.^[8] Penkin's relationship with Kinema Citrus continued through to 2017 for the soundtrack of Made in Abyss,^[8] winning the 2017 Crunchyroll Anime Award for Best Score with it.^[1] In 2018, Penkin composed the score for the video game Florence.^[9] Penkin composed the music for Kinema Citrus' anime adaptation of The Rising of the Shield Hero and NetEase's VR game Nostos in 2019.^[10] He composed the score for the 2020 anime adaptation of the South Korean webtoon Tower of God.^[11] Penkin was working with artist Takashi Murakami on the sequel to the movie Jellyfish Eyes, but the project was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[12] In 2021, Penkin composed the score for "The Village Bride" episode in the Disney+ animated anthology series Star Wars: Visions.^[13]

Penkin lived in the United Kingdom for some time,^[8] but now lives in Melbourne, Australia.^[14]

Works

Anime

Year	Title	Note(s)
2016	Under the Dog	[8][15]
	Norn9	[8][15]
2017	Made in Abyss	Won "Best Score" at the 2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards[8][15]
2019	The Rising of the Shield Hero	Nominated for "Best Score" at the 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards[15][16]
2020	Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul	[15]
	Tower of God	Won "Best Score" at the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards[15]
2021	Eden	[17]
	Star Wars: Visions	Episode "The Village Bride"[13]
2022	The Rising of the Shield Hero 2	[18]
	Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun	[19]
	Legend of Mana: The Teardrop Crystal	Composed the opening theme "Tear of Will"[20]
2023	Pokémon: Paldean Winds	[21]
	The Apothecary Diaries	With Satoru Kōsaki and Alisa Okehazama[22]
	The Rising of the Shield Hero 3	[23]
2024	Bye Bye, Earth	[24]
	Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf	[25]
	Tower of God season 2	[26][27]
2025	The Apothecary Diaries Season 2	With Satoru Kōsaki and Alisa Okehazama[28]
	Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood	[29]
	Star Wars: Visions	Episode "The Lost Ones"

Video games

Year	Title	Note(s)
2011	Jūzaengi: Engetsu Sangokuden	With Nobuo Uematsu[4][15]
2012	Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten	[15]
2013	Norn9	With Nobuo Uematsu[15]
	Deemo	Composed "I Race the Dawn"[15]
	Leviathan: The Last Defense	[15]
2014	Project Phoenix	[15]
2015	Implosion: Never Lose Hope	Composed cutscenes music[15]
2017	Kieru	[8][15]
2018	Florence	Nominated at the 15th British Academy Game Awards for music[9][15]
	This Is the Police 2	With Ben Matthews[15]
2019	Nostos	[10][15]
	Rebel Cops	With Ben Matthews[15]
2020	Necrobarista	[30][31]
2021	Grow: Song of the Evertree	[32]
	Arknights	Composed "Heal the World"[33]
2022	Sin Chronicle	With various others[34]
TBA	Defender's Quest II: Mists of Ruin	[5][35]
	Renaine	With various others[36]

Concert works

Year	Title	Note(s)
2013	Blossom Crossroads	Perth Symphony Orchestra[37]
	Looking for Serenity	Perth Chamber Orchestra
	Altered Illustrations	Perth Chamber Orchestra Joshua Webster, cimbalom[38]
2014	Atmosphere	RCM Student Film Orchestra Anaïs Laugenie, cello
	Changing Feet	Tait Memorial Trust Chamber Orchestra Nicola Crowe, flute[39]
2015	First Blood	"And So Forth" Opera Company Rebecca Hardwick, soprano
2016	Throughtones	Greywing Ensemble[40]
	Houn Maru	Commissioned by Rio Tinto, Perth Symphony Orchestra[41]