Kirke Mechem

b. 1925

Kirke Mechem is a prolific composer with a catalog of over 250 works. ASCAP recently registered performances of his music in 42 countries. Born and raised in Kansas and educated at Stanford and Harvard Universities, Mechem conducted and taught at Stanford, and served as composer-in-residence for several years at the University of San Francisco. Mechem lived three years in Vienna where he came to the attention of Josef Krips, who later championed the composer'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.

His four operas earned him a lifetime achievement award from the National Opera Association. The University of Kansas awarded him its first honorary degree of Doctor of Arts. His opera, Tartuffe , has been performed over 400 times in six countries. Mechem’s book Believe Your Ears: Life of a Lyric Composer won the 2016 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for outstanding musical biography.