Dr.K
Music, Magic, Mind
and a self-perpetuating illusion
Family Edutainment and Paranormal Experiments
Dr.K's ever-ellusive Magic Castle Library Bar Act for cozy settings. Perfect for anniversaries of any kind with an intimate audience of 2 - 24 people.
A 70 minute lecture on one of the following subjects:
- Music History
- Conspiracy Theory about Modern Art
- Self-Working Card Tricks
An evening of immersive experience of the arts including but not limited to music, magic and poetry
Dr. K 科博士
Musician/Magician
音乐人/魔术师
Dr. K
"Music, Magic, Mind, and a self-perpetuating illusion"
A Journey Through the Unseen, Slightly Misunderstood, and Occasionally Flammable Art Form Called Magic.
They say every magician begins with a trick.
Before becoming the magician known as Dr. K, the boy named Kemin began his magical journey with a book. Not just any book — this one was black, slightly too warm to the touch, and tends to burst into flames upon opening. At age 13, while other teenagers were discovering acne, little Kemin was discovering alchemy — or at least the theatrical version of it.
Thus began his lifelong flirtation with the mystic arts, where reality is just another canvas for painting the dream of existence.
The Apprenticeship: Misdirection & Mentorship
While most kids looked up to movie stars, sports icons and the occasional pro-wrestler, Kemin sought out a wizard in plain clothes — Jim Johnstone, a Canadian conjurer whose gaze alone could cut a deck of cards.
Under Johnstone’s mentorship, young Kemin didn’t just learn tricks—he unlearned reality.
The Granite Club Years: Elegance, Echoes, and Enchanted Keys
By 17, while his peers were nervously learning to drive, Kemin was already driving minds off the edge of reason—live at Toronto’s Granite Club, a place where elegance sips cocktails between curling sessions and illusion is swept into existence by brooms on ice.
He performed miracles and suspended disbelief between sets of Chopin waltzes and Beethoven sonatas. With one hand on the keys and the other pulling metaphors from hats, he made members laugh, gasp, and occasionally question the nature of existence (usually between dessert and digestif).
And so, the tale of the young magician began…
Not merely a conjuror.
Not just a musician.
But a philosopher in a velvet cape — an appearing cane in one hand, and a top hat in the other, blurring the line between what is… and what might have been a materialized representation of a figment of your imagination.
Featuring Penn & Teller, and the casual collapse of East-West binaries.
As the clocks ticked past the year 2000 and the world collectively updated its software (and its fears), young Kemin found himself boarding a red-eye flight back to the land of dragons, dumplings, and deeply mysterious alleyways —China.
There, as fate would dramatically clear its throat, he worked as a fixer on a CBC documentary starring none other than the legendary mischief-makers Penn & Teller. The series?
"Penn & Teller's Magical Mystery Tour" (2003).
Part travelogue, part cultural exchange, part initiation into the secret world of magic for television.
Kemin didn’t just fix.
He translated illusions between languages, cultures, and ontologies — making sleight of hand feel like diplomacy.
Somewhere between filming and travelling, he realized:
Magic was a language older than any alphabet.
Television Stardom (or: “When Card Tricks Hit Prime Time”)
Warning: Contents may be more magical than they appear.
Soon after, China’s TV screens lit up — not from state-approved fireworks, but from the sparkly chaos that was Kemin the guy with card tricks!
He popped up on programs with names like:
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Magic Training Camp 魔术训练营 (2004) -- Where muggles are turned into magicians and skeptics become fans.
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Fantastical Happy Magic Show 异想天开-欢乐魔术秀 (2004) -- A CCTV Kids holiday special to distract you from homework.
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Amazing Magicians 超凡魔术师 (2017) – where product placement was the misdirection.
But Kemin wasn’t just there to perform. He also taught, advised, and conjured from the shadows — serving as consultant, mentor, and occasional chaos coordinator.
Behind every disappearing act was a quiet lecture in philosophy. Behind every levitation, a reminder:
Gravity is just a theory.
Where Songs Levitate, and Scripts Vanish into Applause
In 2011, Kemin co-wrote the book for China’s first original magical musical, "Joker’s Game" 《王牌游戏》—a theatrical cocktail of music, mischief, and social satire. The production charmed both critics and crowds, conjuring not one but two shiny trophies: “Best Production Award” and “Audience Choice Award” at the Dongguan Musical Theatre Festival.
Magic Meets Science
In 2018, Broadway’s spell-casting maestro Don Frantz summoned Kemin to help reimagine the off-Broadway sensation "That Physics Show"— with Chinese characteristics and extra smoke rings. Kemin co-wrote the script, starred in the lead, advised on illusions, and composed the show’s theme song. The result? A symphony of science and sorcery that left both physicists and preschoolers clapping in rhythm.
Dreaming Out-Loud
That same year, during China’s National Day festivities, Kemin stepped into the role of artistic director for Asia’s first arena-sized multimedia magic extravaganza, "Ocean of Dreams." With an audience of 10,000+ and visuals loud enough to wake Plato, it wasn’t just a show—it was a lucid dream... with a budget.
Where reality takes a sabbatical.
Riding the whirlwind of past triumphs, Kemin co-produced the Shanghai Life Magic Festival in 2019 — a kaleidoscopic collision of illusion, performance, and controlled chaos. Held in the sprawling Shanghai Expo Celebration Square during China’s National Day golden week, it was part street fair, part magic convention. His grand spectacle, Ocean of Dreams 2, was selected by the Shanghai Culture and Tourism Bureau to close the Shanghai Tourism Festival—with fireworks, fog machines, and thousands of butterflies released into the park every night in a magic spell disguised as a special effect.
Returning to North America
Just in time for history, masks, and altering reality.
Kemin Zhang reappeared in North America just before the world hit pause. Fueled by nostalgia and new tricks, he reignited his love for the stage at none other than The Magic Castle in Hollywood — invited to perform
during their first-ever China Week, timed with the Lunar New Year’s debut as an official California state holiday. The result? A sold-out week of standing ovations, standing-room-only crowds, and a standing invitation from destiny itself -- it was here, that he officially became known as Dr. K!
A Magical Educator
Because the future needs a few more wizards.
Dr.K designed a curriculum unlike any other—an alchemical blend of magic, mysticism, and mischief disguised as education. In partnership with Focus Learning’s STEM program, he launched spring and summer Magic Camps, where kids don’t just learn tricks—they learn how to bend reality politely. The result? A rising generation of wand-wielders who still can’t clean their rooms, but can read your mind.
Home in Toronto
Where snow falls, and imagination soars.
Dr.K now calls Toronto his home — a city of hidden tunnels, clever thinkers, and suspiciously elegant squirrels. He is a charter member of the Toronto Assembly of the Society of American Magicians (S.A.M.), and proudly crashes meetings of the Hat and Rabbit Club (Ring 17).
At the moment, Dr. K is nestled in Toronto, deep in lucid-dream research, producing music with the ever-curious Marcel Du Chimp, and orchestrating everything from concert salons to New Year’s spectacles that make calendars blush. Between the illusions and the sonatas, he’s quietly rewriting reality—one note, one dream, and one impossible thought at a time.
