featured works

Before he surfaced in the West Coast basement choral scene of the early 2000s, Renoir Kobashi was basically a ghost. He broke into the underground making classical voices collide head-first with the sleazier edges of pop culture.

His first major work, "SNAKESKIN," was set to premiere in a San Diego strip club until the granting organization threatened to withdraw funding. Shortly thereafter, most of his early work vanished in a suspicious warehouse fire.

Kobashi claims to be entirely self-taught, though an academic paper trail pointing to Yale-educated composer Krishan Oberoi tells a different story. The two names have been quietly swapping places on scores, vinyl, and bootleg cassettes ever since.