Shawn Kirchner

Born: b. 1970

Nationality: American

Education/Training: MA in Choral Conducting (University of Iowa) with William Hatcher and Richard Bloesch; BA in Peace Studies (Manchester College); recently mentored/inspired by study with Alice Parker and Steven Stucky

Best Known For: his arrangement of the Kenyan song Wana Baraka, now performed throughout the choral community world-wide, including Her Majesty Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Celebration in May 2012 at Windsor Castle

Notable Compositions: recent projects include Songs of Ascent, psalm settings for chorus/strings for LAMC; Plath Songs, settings of the late poems of Sylvia Plath for chorus, piano, and percussion; Behold New Joy, a Latin carol suite commissioned by LAMC in 2011 and expanded to an orchestral version at the request of Oxford University Press; arrangements for chamber orchestra, children's choir and soloists of movements from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Mahler's Symphony No. 5 for Jacaranda; We Need A Little Rain, a jazz songwriting project

Assignments: appointed Swan Family Composer in Residence for LAMC from 2012-2015; professional chorister with the Oriana Singers, Chicago Choral Artists and Rockefeller Chapel Choir; pianist for the Lyric Opera's Center for American Arts and LAMC; Director of Choral Activities at the University of La Verne; Minister of Music/composer-in-residence at the La Verne Church of the Brethren

Curious Facts: 13 seasons as a tenor with LAMC, also appeared as a soloist in works of Pärt, Monk, Ramirez, Lauridsen, and Pérotin, and as pianist for various concerts; his first LAMC commission was the Neruda sonnet setting, Tu Voz, for the 2007 High School Choir Festival; special interest in folk music (plays guitar and banjo) and has performed widely with the folk group Kindling; in 2006 wrote Meet Me on the Mountain, a set of bluegrass/country songs inspired by Brokeback Mountain (CD available in the concert hall's gift store); published by Oxford, Boosey & Hawkes, Santa Barbara and Shawn Kirchner Publishing