***Sigma Alpha Iota National Arts Associate
You are invited to visit the composer's website for more information.
Biography
Kirke Mechem was born and raised in Kansas and educated at Stanford and Harvard universities. He is the composer of more than 250 published works in almost every form. He conducted and taught at Stanford and was for several years composer-in-residence at the University of San Francisco. He lived in Vienna for three years where he came to the attention of Josef Krips, who later championed Mechem's symphonies as conductor of the San Francisco Symphony. He was guest of honor at the 1990 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and was invited back for an all-Mechem symphonic concert by the USSR Radio-Television Orchestra in 1991, and to the Russian-language premiere of Tartuffe by the St. Petersburg Mussorgsky National Theater for Opera and Ballet in 1996. The concert was recorded by Melodiya and released on the Russian Disc label.
ASCAP recently registered performances of Mechem's music in 42 countries. His three-act opera, Tartuffe, has had more than 350 performances in six countries. John Brown was premiered in 2008 by Lyric Opera Kansas City, which the Kansas City Star called 'the sort of magical success that composers and musicians dream of. Songs of the Slave, a suite for bass-baritone, soprano, chorus and orchestra from his opera, John Brown, has produced standing ovations in the more than forty cities where it has been performed. Mechem's talents have been acknowledged through numerous honors, including retrospectives, grants, commissions and special anniversary performances. They have come from, among many others, the United Nations, the National Gallery, the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Choral Directors Association, the Music Educators National Conference and the National Opera Association (lifetime achievement award). In 2007 the American Choral Directors Association celebrated his fifty years of choral publications with a retrospective concert at its national convention.
In the twenty-some years between John Brown's inception and premiere, Mechem wrote many other compositions, including two new operas: The Newport Rivals, based upon Sheridan's classic play The Rivals; and Pride and Prejudice, on Jane Austen's famous novel. Both have been tried out in workshops and are presently (2008) being prepared for professional premieres.
Annual Updates
2011
Jane Austen Society of America presented excerpts from Pride and Prejudice, opera in two acts on 3/20/10. Composer was interviewed and spoke on turning the novel into an opera. Singers and pianists were from San Francisco State University Opera Department. Blow Ye The Trumpet, from Mechem’s opera John Brown, was performed by the Texas All-State Men’s Choir performance at Austin, TX. Some 8,000 students performed this work in the preliminary phases of the competition on 2/13/10.
PREMIERES
Once to Every Man and Nation: Variations on an old Welsh Tune for baritone, chorus and string orchestra by the Brookine (MA) Chorus and orchestra conducted by Dr.Lisa Graham on 5/15/10. From The Heartland: Song Cycle for Baritone and Orchestra by Topeka Symphony Orchestra and David Okerlund , baritone conducted by Dr. John Strickler on 1/15/11.
PERFORMANCES
Songs of The Slave: suite from the opera John Brown for two soloists, chorus and orchestra by Mogan State University choirs and orchestra in Baltimore MD on 5/3/09. Songs of the Slave by Festival Singers of Florida conducted by Kevin Fenton in Orlando FL on 10/2/10. Tartuffe, an opera in 3 acts, by Capitol City Opera in Atlanta, GA on 9/10 – 9/12/10; by Arizona State University in Tempe on 10/1 – 10/9/10. Island in Space by Chanticleer, 72 cities on tour in Fall, 2010. Suite for Chorus, by New Amsterdam Singers conducted by Clara Longstreth on 6/2/10. Seven Joys of Christmas, chorus and orchestra (or harp), hundreds of performances in 12/09.
2010
NEWS
The composer has been commissioned to write a work for chorus and string orchestra by the Brookline (MA) Chorus, which is directed by Lisa E. Graham; he has also completed a 20-minute song cycle titled From The Heartland, for baritone and the Berkeley (CA) Symphony. Sing All Ye Joyful was performed July 18, 2009, by the massed choir of the Golden Gate International Children’s Chorus Festival (nine choirs, 450 children), Berkeley, CA. At the July 2-5 International Choral Symposium VII, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, James Stegall gave a presentation titled “Fifty Two Years of Song: The Choral Music of Master Composer Kirke Mechem, “ during which 14 of the composer’s works were sung and discussed. The composer gave a master class on his choral music July 30-31 at California State University, for a Los Angeles graduate studies program; and also served as panelist and speaker October 29-31 for the Yale University Gilder Lehrman Center Symposium on John Brown, for which music from his opera John Brown was presented.
PREMIERES
Sigh No More Ladies, SSA and piano, was introduced February 16, 2008, by Milwaukee Choral Artists, under the direction of Sharon Hansen.
PERFORMANCES
Songs of The Slave, a suite from the opera John Brown for two soloists, chorus, and orchestra was performed on a European tour July-August 2008 by the Ohio State University and Bowling Green University choirs and orchestra; November 16, by the University of South Carolina Chorus; March 7, 2009, by the Rochester Oratorio Society (NY); May 30-31 by Santa Rosa College Symphonic Chorus and orchestra; and April 7, by the Rob Seible Singers and Divisi Orchestra, Houston TX. Seven Joys of Christmas, for chorus and orchestra (or harp), received hundreds of performances in December 2008 including Fairfield Co. Chorale and Orchestra, Stamford CT; Burlington Civic Chorale, Ontario, Canada; Southeastern Symphonic Choir, Durant, OK; Bel Canto Singers, Fredericton Canada; Long Beach (CA) Chorale and orchestra; Boychoir of Ann Arbor, MI; San Francisco (CA) Girls Chorus; Asheville (NC) Choral Society; Con Spirito Choir, Kirkwood, MO; Richmond (VA) Choral Society; Webster University Chorale; Pioneer Valley Symphony and Chorus, Greenfield, MA; Maui Choral Arts Association, Kahului, HI.; University of Western Ontario and St. Cecilia Singers, London, Ontario, Canada.; and the Boston College University Chorale. Tartuffe, an opera in 3 acts, was presented January 16-18, 2009, Valdosta State University, GA; April 23-24, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI; and June 28-July 3, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA. Pianist Momo Kodama performed Suite for Piano August 30, in San Francisco, CA.
2009
PREMIERES
Suite for Chorus was introduced in the full revised version April 4, 2008, by the Colorado State University Chamber Choir, under the direction of James Kim, Fort Collins, CO. The commissioned 3-act opera John Brown received its premiere from Lyric Opera Kansas City, May 3-11, conducted by Ward Holmquist, and directed by Kristine McIntyre; scenes were also given at the Opera America convention, June 12, Denver, CO.
PERFORMANCES
The Young New Yorkers Chorus presented Island in Space on June 2, 2007; the work was also performed September 22, University of Utah Choir, Salt Lake City; December 8, Wisconsin Chamber Choir, Madison; and February 17, 2008 Princeton Pro Musica. Seven Joys of Christmas for chorus and orchestra (or harp) received numerous December 2007 performances, including the Choral Arts Ensemble, Rochester MN, December 8-9; the UCLA University Campus Choir, December 9; the Ottawa Bach Choir, December 14-15; and the Boychoir of Ann Arbor MI, December14-16. Tartuffe, an opera in 3 acts, was presented February 1-3, 2008 by the Hofstra University Opera, Hempstead, NY, conducted by David Ramael and directed by Patricia Heuermann; the opera was later performed May 1-3, by George Mason University, as directed by Patricia Miller. Songs of The Slave: Suite from the Opera John Brown for two soloists, chorus, and orchestra, was performed March 30 by bass-baritone Wayne Shepperd, soprano Jenny Spence, and the Orange County Women’s Chorus/Long Beach Chorus led by Eliza Rubenstein, Huntingon Beach CA; the same work was heard July 4 in a Music Celebrations International concert, conducted by Hillary Apfelstadt, Luzern, Switzerland; Shepperd, with Sheila Judson, will present the work again March 7, 2009, with the Gulf Coast Symphony and the Mississippi Community and Junior College Choral Association, under the direction of John W. Strickler. Divertimento for Flute and String Trio was presented May 11 by flutist Alexandra Hawley and the Avedis Chamber Music Ensemble, San Francisco, CA.