David Kechley
Biography
David Stevenson Kechley (b. 16 March 1947, Seattle, Wash.) is an American composer and educator.
Kechley studied at the University of Washington and completed a doctorate in composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1979 where his teachers included Paul Tufts, James Beale, Robert Suderburg, William Bergsma and Donald Erb.
Since the 1968 premiere of Second Composition for Large Orchestra by the Seattle Symphony, has produced works in all genres, which have been commissioned and performed throughout the U.S. and abroad by the Minnesota Orchestra, Boston Pops, Cleveland Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, and 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. 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. Two recent premieres are Bounce: Inventions, Interludes, and Interjections, premiered at the World Saxophone Congress in July, 2006 in Ljubljana, Slovenia by the Ryoanji Du' and Colliding Objects: Interactions for Piano and Percussion received its New York City premiere at the Barge in March, 2008.
Kechley is currently professor of music and chair of the music department at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Works for Winds
- Bang! (2005)
- Concerto for Band (1970)
- Fanfares and Reflections (1980)
- Restless Birds Before the Dark Moon (2000)
Resources
- "David Kechley." 153.pair.com. Accessed 20 August 2020
- McCutchen, Mathew G. (2009) An Examination of the History and Winning Pieces of the National Band Association's Composition Contest: 1977-2008. Florida State University, Doctoral Dissertation.
- Pine Valley Press Accessed 20 August 2020