Kevin Gunter

Kevin Gunter serves as the class piano coordinator at SMU, where he supervises graduate students in the Master of Music in piano performance/pedagogy program and teaches undergraduates, both music majors and non-music majors. Gunter holds degrees in piano from Samford University and SMU, where he studied with Dr. Betty Sue Shepherd and Dr. David Karp, respectively. He also teaches in the SMU CAPE Program (Continuing and Professional Education), hosting a master class for adults. Gunter is an inaugural winner of the SMU Moody Outstanding Mentor of the Year. Orchestrated by the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies and the Center for Teaching Excellence, this award recognizes exceptional mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars by SMU faculty, and it includes a fund of $10,000 to support research and professional development expenses for graduate students under Gunter’s mentorship.

Gunter is also a doctoral student in the SMU Simmons School of Education, pursuing an Ed.D. in Higher Education. His research is focused on graduate program expansion in schools of the arts. Additional research interests include adult pedagogy, mixed-reality teaching technology and academic structure.

Gunter maintains a small but active studio of pre-college students in SMU's Piano Preparatory Department, and his students have earned first prizes in Dallas Piano Solo, Dallas Symphonic, and DMTA Jazz/Pop competitions, the TMTA (Texas Music Teachers Association) State Composition contest, the TMTA State Solo contest (local and regional), the Settenote Online Piano International Competition, and other competitions. His students have performed twice in recitals and master classes at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in Chicago, as well as the TMTA State Convention. His students also attended summer festivals such as the Piano Academy at Indiana University and the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy.

Gunter is an active musical director and performer in the Dallas theatre scene, having most recently been seen on stage at Theatre Arlington in Micah with a Z. He has given hundreds of performances in over 70 different productions at theatres such as Uptown Players, WaterTower Theatre, and Lyric Stage, with acclaim from The Dallas Morning News, Dallas Culture Map, TheaterJones, Dallas Voice, Dallas Observer, BroadwayWorld and others.

Gunter also served as music director/conductor for the SMU “Broadway Anthems,” a collaboration with SMU Meadows students, as well as fellow professors Virginia Dupuy and Sara Romersberger. The troupe gave their first public performance at the 2019 Ima Leete Hutchison Concert at the SMU-in-Taos Cultural Institute in Taos, NM, followed by performances at the Dallas Woman’s Club, SMU Owen Arts Center, and Northaven United Methodist Church, as well as a return engagement at SMU-in-Taos in 2022.

Gunter is an active member of the Music Teachers National Association, as well as the Texas MTA and Dallas MTA. He is also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the professional men’s music fraternity, as well as Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Tau Delta. He presented his lecture, “Trending Now: Your Future with Adult Students,” at the 2019 Music Teachers National Association Conference in Spokane, WA, and he is published in the MTNA e-Journal.