Kyle Anthony Cortés, M.M. (He/Him), is an Afro-Latino composer, music director, singer-actor, sound designer, and educator based in Chicago. Working primarily as a music director and composer for the stage, his recent design credits include Fat Ham (Goodman Theatre), "Onward and Overwhelmed" (The Second City Theatre), Jocey y Las Mariachis (Vision Latino), GOODS (Artemisia Theatre), Judy's Life's Work (Definition Theatre).​ He's honored to be a 2024-25 Second City "Bob Curry Fellow,"  receiving additional training before sound designing and music directing the cohort on Second City's E.T.C Stage in February. 

 

In line with his artistic endeavors, he is a teaching artist for the music conservatory at The Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts) and has partnered with Forevermore Dance and Theater and Chicago Music and Acting Academy as a private lessons studio instructor covering the areas of voice, guitar, piano, and composition. While at ChiArts, he's designed and led courses such as: Guitar Skills and Song Writing for the Vocalist, Music Theory Fundamentals, Piano and Aural Skills for the Vocalist, Vocal Performance Fundamentals 2 (French and German Diction), Treble Choir, and Acting the Song.  

 

​ Cortés completed his master's degree with honors in vocal performance at DePaul School of Music in Chicago. He has sung operatic roles such as Lucio Silla in Handel’s Silla, the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel, Don Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro, and Mayor Upfold in Britten’s Albert Herring. He relocated to Chicago after having graduated cum laude with two Bachelor of Music degrees from the University of Florida in vocal performance and composition. ​His other formal training includes a summer of private research in composition in the live-coding environment MAX/MSP at the Mozarteum Conservatory in Salzburg, Austria under their director of electro-acoustic composition, Dr. Achim Bornhöft, along with six months of study with Dr. Jourdan L. Howell’s Palm Beach Opera Apprentice Studio. His interest in classical voice and composition led him to join the artistic team at Vizin-Production and Starr-Editing, Media Group as their composer-in-residence and young artist for the 2020-21 season, focusing on digital media productions of art song and opera.​

 

He is eager to share, collaborate, and bring to life stories through dynamic sonorous landscapes.