Kuehn’s music has been described as having “sensuous phrases … produc[ing] an effect of high abstraction turning into decadence” by author and New York Times critic Paul Griffiths[1].  He has received awards, grants, and residencies from ASCAP (1989, 1993 Student Composer Awards), BMI (1988 Student Composer Award), the Banff Centre (2005 residency), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2000 and 2002 First Hearing Prizes), Eastman (1992 Howard Hanson Prize and 1993 McCurdy Prize), Indiana University (1996), the League of Composers / ISCM (1996, first prize), the MacDowell Colony (1995 and 2006 residencies), Meet the Composer (2000, 2001), the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, the Luigi Russolo Competition (Italy, 2000, finalist), the Ohio Arts Council (2008 Individual Excellence Award) and the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Competition (1997, honorable mention).  

His works have been performed and commissioned by the Anubis Quartet, the Bicinia Duo, the Boulogne Billancourt Saxophone Ensemble (Paris), the Bowling Green Philharmonia, pianist David Burge, the Chamber Players of the League / ISCM, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (Cliff Colnot, conductor), Ensemble 21, Flexible Music, cellist Craig Hultgren, the Kesatuan Duo, guitarist Dan Lippel, the New Millennium Ensemble, the New York New Music Ensemble (Harvey Sollberger, conductor), pianist Marilyn Nonken, the Roots Ensemble (Ireland), Selmer Paris, the Thelema Trio (Belgium), the University of Iowa’s Center for New Music, and the Zephyr Duo (Paris). He has been a featured composer of the Birmingham Art Music Alliance, the BONK! Festival, Cycle de concerts de musique par ordinateur (Université Paris 8), Electronic Music Midwest, Festival Elektrokomplex (Vienna), The Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, the International Computer Music Conference (Ann Arbor, Barcelona, Belfast), June in Buffalo, the North American Saxophone Alliance, the OCEANn Festival, the Orpheus Chamber Music Series, the Society of Composers, Inc., the Society of Electroacoustic Music in the U.S. (SEAMUS), Sonic Residues 02 (Australia), the Third Practice Festival, and the Western Illinois New Music Festival. Recordings of his works appear on the Centaur, Errol (France), New Focus, and ICMA (Ireland) labels.  His music is published by Reed Music (Australia) and Les Éditions Fuzeau (Paris, forthcoming).

Currently Director of the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music (MACCM), Kuehn oversees the renowned annual New Music Festival and the Music at the Forefront concert series at Bowling Green State University (OH) where he is Associate Professor of Composition.  An advocate of the promotion and understanding of contemporary musical thought, he has presented on aspects of contemporary music at the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut (Heidelberg, Germany), the 2003 Eastman Berio Festival, the Society of Composers, Inc., the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the U.S., and the Society for Music Theory. As a conductor, Kuehn has performed works such as Berio’s O King, Cage’s 3rd Construction, Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King, Lauba’s Mutation Colour IV, Morris’ Tigers and Lilies, Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Stockhausen’s Kreuzspeil, and Varese’s Octandre. Kuehn’s duo, Vox Electroacoustica has presented programs of works for voice and electronics in Canada (Sudbury, Ontario, 2005) and Germany (Heidelberg, 2006).  Kuehn is the author of nGen, a free computer music application used worldwide. His biography is included in 2000 Outstanding Musicians of the 20th Century, International Who’s Who in Music and Musicians’ Directory, and Marquis’ Who’s Who in America. He resides in Toledo, Ohio with his wife, soprano Deborah Norin-Kuehn, and their two children, Stefan and Zoë.