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David Kechley
Since the 1968 premiere of Second Composition for Large Orchestra by the Seattle Symphony, David Kechley has produced works in all genres, which have been commissioned and performed throughout the USA and abroad by the Minnesota Orchestra, Boston Pops, Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Colorado Symphony, United States Military Academy Band, Mistral Saxophone Quartet, Kronos String Quartet, Lark Quartet, Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, Vienna Saxophone Quartet, among others.
Kechley’s work has been recognized by a Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (1979), grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (1976, 1979), and commissions from the Barlow Foundation (1998) and the New England Orchestra Consortium (2004). Five Ancient Lyrics on Poems by Sappho was first prize winner of the 1980-81 Shreveport Symphony Composers’ Competition and Concerto for Violin and Strings won the 1979 Opus I Chamber Orchestra Contest for Ohio Composers. In the Dragon’s Garden, a work for guitar and alto saxophone, was a winner of the 1994 Lee Ettelson Prize. Lightning Images received honorable mention in the 1994 ASCAP Nissim Competition and TRANSFORMATIONS: An Orchestral Triptych was an honorable mention in that same competition in 1998. Restless Birds before the Dark Moon, a work for alto saxophone and wind ensemble, was the winner of the 2000 National Band Association, William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. Kechley received Artist Fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council in 1985 and the Massachusetts Cultural Council in 1995 and 2005. His two most recent premieres are BOUNCE: Inventions, Interludes, and Interjections, premiered at the World Saxophone Congress in July, 2006 in Ljubljana, Slovenia by the Ryoanji Duo, WAKEFUL VISIONS/MOONLESS DREAMS: A Symphony in Four Movements was premiered in February 2008 by the Berkshire Symphony, and COLLIDING OBJECTS: Interactions for Piano and Percussion received its NYC premiere at the Barge in March, 2008.
Kechley’s music can be heard on Liscio Recordings, Albany Records, and Reference Recordings. His music is published by Pine Valley Press.
Born in Seattle, Washington, March 16, 1947, Kechley was educated at the University of Washington, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Case Western Reserve University.
