Biography
Emmy-nominated (NW) composer, producer, & pianist Trevor Kowalski's music has been streamed hundreds of millions of times, and been heard in films and videos seen over 5 billion times. Both welcoming and inventive, Trevor embraces a dreamlike, colorful approach inspired by video game melody, vibrant classical drama, and a deep love of nature.
Trevor's "windowpane" EPs (Daydream In Silver, Luminescence...) marked a dive into atmosphere and memories in 2018 that saw his arrival on the global stage, garnering 30 million streams within 6 months of release. In 2021, Trevor began collaborating with award-winning director Alex Anoruk Sallee on film soundtracks, notably "Dear Kin" (2021) premiering at the Anchorage Museum highlighting LGBTQI+ and Two-Spirit identities in the Native Alaskan community, "Respect" (2021) debuting at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, and "Celebrating Our Beauty" (2021) commissioned by MTV for Native Heritage Month. That year, Trevor's collaboration "Anima" (2021) with Spanish sculptor and multimedia artist Joaquín Restrepo won 1st place at LABitConf and debuted at the Teatro Colón Opera House in Buenos Aires.
Trevor then scored the indie video game "Unwording" to critical music acclaim in video game publications (2023). Trevor scored "'Xáat Kwáani' (Salmon People)" (Commercial for Alaska Airlines) (2023) which was nominated for a Northwest EMMY and directly led to Trevor collaborating with director Loren Waters on her film "Meet Me at the Creek" (2024), a success on the festival circuit. Trevor then released his self-produced modern-classical album "The Twilight Glow" (2024) with Trevor recording a self-conducted live Hollywood orchestra and choir with piano performed by Trevor and released through the Berlin Classics label Neue Meister. Additionally, his version of Scarborough Fair was used in the soundtrack for Netflix's "Norman's Rare Guitars" (2024). He collaborated again with Loren Waters on the Sundance-winning, SXSW-selection , and Documentary Emmy-nominated "Tiger" (2025-26). Trevor met the TomorrowHead Studio team and produced the score for their game "WILL: Follow the Light" (2026), composing over 2 hours of in-game music for live orchestra and electronics.
Before 2018, Trevor's young crowdfunded Piano Themes (2013) led to more substantial projects; the #1 mobile game in India "Bombarika" (Original Soundtrack) and his honored London production of "Antigone" (Original Music from the Bloomsbury Theatre Production), among others: 2nd-place Game of The Year (IN) "Cubots: The Origins" (Original Soundtrack) and A.C. Lamberty's "Honey and Jerome Forever!" (Original Soundtrack). Select concert works "Satellites", "Certain Paths", and "Three Themes on Common Tones" have been well-received. He has composed for New York's senate-awarded "DON'T WAIT ® to Unmake a Bully" series (2016).
Distinctly shaped by the Adirondack Mountains and enthralled with music from a young age, Trevor started playing piano at 6 and writing fragments of melodies. Growing up, he played piano on the street and in bars between jobs, later teaching piano and composition while in school. He studied at Boston University with the influential Ketty Nez, where he was the first freshman to win the orchestra's composition contest, and at the Royal College of Music in London where he performed under conductor Bernard Haitink, with additional education in the BMI Music in Advertising workshop at New York University. He also plays french horn. Trevor has worked with traditional Native musicians in awarded co-soundtracks, and he gained experience at composer Hans Zimmer's studio. Trevor is based in Los Angeles, California.
