Described as a “virtuosic tour de force” whose playing is “energetic, precise, (and) sensitive,” Keith Kirchoff is a pianist, composer, conductor, concert curator, and teacher. A strong advocate for living composers, Kirchoff is committed to fostering new audiences for contemporary music and giving a voice to emerging composers.
Kirchoff is the co-founder and President of SPLICE Music: one of the United States’ largest programs dedicated to the performance, creation, and development of music for performers and electronics. As a part of SPLICE, he serves as Director of Performance Studies for SPLICE Institute (a weeklong summer program held at Western Michigan University), Director of SPLICE Festival (an annual conference held in collaboration with different universities), and the pianist of SPLICE Ensemble.
As a pianist, Kirchoff has played throughout the United States as well as major cities throughout Italy, New Zealand, Australia, England, Canada, Belgium, Mexico, China, and The Netherlands. He has been a featured soloist in many music festivals including the Festival de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, Festival Internacional de Müsica Contemporánea, the Society for Electro- Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), the Oregon Festival of American Music, and the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC). In addition to the SPLICE Ensemble, he is the pianist in the Boston-based Hinge Quartet, and as a soloist and ensemble musician, has commissioned several dozen composers and premiered hundreds of new works, including the Boston premiere of Charles Ives’ Emerson Concerto.
Described as “hyperactive,” Kirchoff’s compositions have been presented throughout the United States, Canada, England, Turkey, Holland, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, and Germany. He has received commissions from numerous ensembles and soloists including Transient Canvas, Hinge Quartet, Ensemble mise-en, pianists Shiau-uen Ding and Kai Schumacher, baritone Nathan Kreuger, and Telling Stories Music.
The winner of the 2006 Steinway Society Piano Competition and the 2005 John Cage Award, Kirchoff was named the 2011 "Distinguished Scholar" by the Seabee Memorial Scholarship Association. He has also received composing grants from MetLife Meet the Composer and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
Kirchoff has served as Vice President of SEAMUS (Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States) and is the founder and Artistic Director of Original Gravity: a Boston-based concert series that features the music of local composers and pairs that music with locally brewed beer.
Kirchoff’s primary teachers include Dean Kramer, Stephen Drury, and Paul Wirth. He received his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Oregon in 2003 graduating summa cum laude and then received his Master of Music degree at New England Conservatory in 2005. He has also studied composition with Michael Gandolfi and Jeffrey Stolet, and conducting with Richard Hoenich. In addition to his recordings on his independent label Thinking outLOUD Records, Kirchoff has released recordings on the New World, Kairos, Ravello, Parma, Albany, SEAMUS, New Focus, Tantara, and Zerx labels.
Kirchoff lives in Rhode Island and serves as the Chair of the Keyboard Department at Concord Conservatory of Music, is the Music Director at First Parish in Brookline, and teaches composition at Connecticut College. He is also an avid homebrewer and has published several articles on the topic.
You can follow Kirchoff on Instagram @8e8keys and learn more at his website: keithkirchoff.com