***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.
Publishers
Kirke Mechem's compositions since 1980 have been published exclusively by G. Schirmer, New York. Before 1980 his principal publishers were:
Contact Information
49 Marcela Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94116
E-mail: kirke@kirkemechem.com
Annual Updates
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.
2008
The World Is Too Much With Us, a work for SATB a cappella, was commissioned for the 25th anniversary of the Santa Fe (NM) Desert Chorale (Linda Mack, Artistic Director); the work subsequently premiered during July and August 2007. Mechem completed the orchestration for his two-act opera, Pride and Prejudice, in 2007. The San Francisco (CA) Choral Society, under the direction of Robert Geary, introduced Scene I of the opera, with orchestra, soloists, and chorus, August 3-4 in Davies Symphony Hall. A program titled “The Kirke Mechem Celebration Concert” received two performances in San Jose, CA, June 8-9, 2007 by The Choral Project, Daniel Hughes, Artistic Director.
Premieres
The premiere of the revised version of “Papageno and the Prince” fairy tale from Suite for Chorus was presented on three all-Mechem retrospective concerts by the Western Illinois University Singers, under the direction of James Stegall, at the 2007 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Convention, Miami, FL.
Performances
Dan-u-el received performances February 9, 2007, from the Pennsylvania State University combined choirs; February 25 from the Texas Tech University Choir; March 8-10 from Albany Pro Music (David Janower, conductor); March 10-11 from the Sonoma County (CA) Chorale (James Griewe, conductor); June 8-9 from The Choral Project, San Jose, CA (Daniel Hughes, conductor); May 13 from the Silicon Valley Symphony Chorus, San Jose, CA (Elena Sharkova conductor); and by many others. Peace Motets was presented March 23-25 by the New Amsterdam Singers under the direction of Clara Longstreth, in New York, NY; June 23-24 by the Santa Cruz (CA) Chorale led by Christian Grube; and during the Duke University Chorale spring tour, under the baton of Rodney Wynkoop. Tartuffe, an opera in 3 acts, received performances from the Grand Rapids Symphony, May 11, 2007; the Lake George Opera, Saratoga Springs, NY, June-July; the Bay Area Summer Opera Training Institute, San Francisco, July 1-3; the San Francisco State University Opera November 9-17; and the Forgotten Opera Company, Washington DC, November-December 2007. The Jayhawk: Magic Bird Overture was presented September 15 by the Kalamazoo Sympony Orchestra, led by Raymond Harvey. Seven Joys of Christmas, for chorus and orchestra (or harp), was presented December 8-9 by the Master Singers of Milwaukee (Eric Townell, conductor); December 8-9 by the Choral Arts Ensemble, Rochester, MN (Michael Culloton, conductor); December 15-16 by the Diablo Valley (CA) Master Chorale (Richard Kamprath, conductor); and by many others throughout December 2007.
Publications
Birthdays: Round Numbers, seven pieces for SATB chorus and piano; The World is Too Much With Us, SATB chorus, a cappella; both by G. Schirmer.
2007
A retrospective of Kirke Mechem’s 50 years of choral publications will be presented at the American Choral Directors Association 2007 National Convention in Miami, FL. The Western Illinois University Singers under James Stegall will sing twelve of his compositions . Other all-Mechem concerts will be given this season by the Music Group of Philadelphia and the Choral Project of San Jose. A chapter on the composer’s choral music is included in Composers on Composing for Choir, published by GIA. Three new operas are in preparation: John Brown, for which the Lyric Opera of Kansas City presented a workshop in January 2007 towards a premiere in May 2008; The Newport Rivals, which recently had a fully staged production with two pianos by the Maryland Opera Studio, will receive its premiere during the 2007-08 season; and Pride and Prejudice, for which the orchestration is being written. Act I of Pride and Prejudice had a staged workshop with piano at the North Carolina School for the Arts; the first two scenes will be performed with orchestra in a concert version in summer 2007 by the San Francisco Choral Society. The composer’s first opera, Tartuffe, approaches its 350th performance, with five new productions this season.
Premieres
The orchestral version of Sing All Ye Joyful, for SSAA or SATB, was introduced April 9, 2006, by the Los Angeles (CA) Children’s Chorus, under the direction of Anne Tomlinson, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, at Walt Disney Hall.
Performances
Songs of the Slave, a suite for chorus, orchestra, and two soloists from the opera John Brown, was presented by East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, TX, by Illinois Central College, East Peoria, IL; and by the Omaha Symphony Orchestra. Island In Space was presented by the New Classic Singers, Glen Ellyn, IL; the Manchester (NH) Choral Society; the Annas Bay Chamber Choir of Seattle, WA; the Brookline (MA) Chorus; and the Esoterics, in Seattle WA. Tartuffe, an opera in three acts, received performances at the University of Evansville, IL (Jon Truitt, director); at Portland State University (Brenda Nuckton, director, and Stephen Crawford, conductor); by the Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, WI (Dorothy Danner, director, and Richard Carsey, conductor); at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (Gayle Shay, director and David Childs, conductor); and will also be performed by the Arizona Opera Theatre (Thomas Cockrell, conductor). Singing is So Good a Ting: An Elizabethan Recreation, a cantata for chorus, chamber orchestra, and solo tenor or soprano, was presented by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society under the direction of Tom Hall. Seven Joys of Christmas, for chorus and orchestra (or harp) received performances throughout December from the Music Group of Philadelphia (Sean Deibler, conductor); the Singers Marin (Jan Schiff, conductor); Vancouver Chamber Choir (Jon Washburn, conductor); Warwick Valley (NY) Chorale; Concord (NH) Chorale; Jefferson (LA) Chorale; Oriana Women’s Chorus, Toronto, Canada; and others.
Publications
Suite For Chorus, four pieces for mixed chorus, a cappella, op. 69, published separately (“Kum Ba Ya,” “Too Young to Marry,” “They That Mourn,” and “Papageno and the Prince”); Agnus Dei (No. 2 of Peace Motets), SATB a cappella; all by G. Schirmer.
Recordings
Kirke Mechem: American Madrigals and other secular choral works; San Jose Choral Project; Clarion. Seven Joys of Mary, for SATB and harp; Santa Fe Desert Chorale (Clarion) and the University of Washington Chamber Singers (UWC435). Immaginosa includes “The Winds of May,” choral cycle for SATB a cappella; The Esoterics; Terpsichore. On Christmas Night includes “Blow Ye the Trumpet,” Unitar Choir; “Patapan” and “New Year’s Song,” Guelph Chamber Choir; and “Fum Fum Fum,” San Francisco Girls Chorus and harp (SFGC7097).