Kyle Flens - Percussion

Kyle Flens, (b.1991, Baltimore, MD), is a percussionist and drummer. Based in Chicago IL, he is a member of the chamber music collective Ensemble Dal Niente, one half of the Flannau Duo, and a collaborator with the interdisciplinary percussion group Beyond This Point.

Kyle enjoys performing experimental music. His mallet playing in ensemble work has been praised by critics, sounding "like the right pinch of seasoning on a good meal" (Hyde Park Herald). This gravitation to the avant garde has led to concerts across the Western Hemisphere. Concert highlights include Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires, Argentina), the Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enriquez (Mexico City, Mexico), the MetLiveArts concert series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the LA Philharmonic's Noon to Midnight Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), the 5th International Festival of Percussion Ensembles (San José, Costa Rica), Institutio Inhotim (Minas Gerais, Brazil), The São Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival (Brazil), and the Phillips Collection concert series (Washington DC). Kyle has premiered over one hundred compositions by innovative artists, musicians, and collaborators. 

Kyle also enjoys teaching and talking about experimental music. He has given educational clinics at Western Washington University, DePaul University, Instituto Nacional de la Música (San José, Costa Rica), the Juilliard School, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He has been in residency at University of California Davis, The Walden School, Brandeis University, Brown University, Stanford University, and the University of Maryland. Kyle is on faculty at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois, teaching applied lessons in drums and percussion. He received his Master of Music with a Performer’s Certificate from Northern Illinois University and his Bachelor of Music from Towson University as a Presser Scholar. While at NIU, he was the winner of the school’s concerto competition and received a graduate fellowship award. Kyle has studied with Gregory Beyer, Patrick Roulet, Michelle Humphreys, and N. Scott Robinson.

As a former member of Arcomusical, Kyle can be heard on albums MeiaMeia on Innova Recordings, Spinning in the Wheel on National Sawdust Tracks, and Emigre and Exile on New Focus Recordings. He can also be heard on numerous Dal Niente albums from 2019 and beyond. Kyle performs on Pearl Drums and Adams Percussion Instruments, and is honored to be an endorsed artist.