A native of Johnson City, TN, Kenton Coe began his musical training at the Cadek Conservatory in Chattanooga and continued studies in Knoxville before attending Sewanee Academy, Hobart College in upstate New York, and Yale University, from which he graduated as a History of Music major. He then worked privately for three years in Paris with Nadia Boulanger both at the Paris Conservatory and the Fontainebleau School and received two French Government scholarships at her request. His first full-length opera, South, was premiered in 1965 by the Opera of Marseilles. He has also written a one-act comedy, Le Grand Siecle; a second full-length opera, The White Devil; a third opera, Rachel; musical play, The River; play, Three Appalachian Carols; and composition Sonata for Piano.
An active member of the Episcopal Church, Coe has been commissioned to write numerous anthems for various parishes. He also composed the film scores for Universal's Birds in Peru and for five full-length documentary films by director Ross Spears: Agee, The Electric Valley, Long Shadows, To Render a Life, and Tell About the South. The Tennessee Music Teachers' Association named Coe "Composer of the Year" and commissioned the cantata Handwriting on the Wall. He has also received awards from Tusculum College, The Lyndhurst Foundation, and the state of Tennesee.
