Keith Kirchoff is one of the most unique artists from his generation. As a pianist and composer, he works towards enhancing the status of classical music in American culture by educating audiences before and during performances, lecturing internationally, and stressing the importance of modern music to keep classical music alive and current. His programs focus on unusual and neglected works and his repertoire ranges from the 18th to the 21st centuries.

Kirchoff has played in many of the United States’ largest cities including New York, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Portland, as well as major cities throughout Italy and The Netherlands. He has appeared with orchestras throughout the U.S. performing a wide range of concerti, including the Boston premier of Charles Ives’s Emerson Concerto and the world premier of Matthew McConnell’s Concerto for Toy Piano, as well as more traditional concerti by Tschaikowsky and Chopin. He has also been a featured soloist in many music festivals including the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), the Oregon Festival of American Music, the Norfolk New Music Workshop, Ives and His World, and The eXtensible Toy Piano Project.

Although only 27 years old, Kirchoff has already premiered over 100 new works and commissioned nearly a dozen. As a strong supporter of modern music, he has worked closely with many prominent composers including Christian Wolff, Frederic Rzewski, and Lee Hyla. He has studied, performed, and lectured on the complete piano works of Robert Muczynski, given recital series focusing on the works of John Cage, toured internationally with the works of Frederic Rzewski, and this upcoming season will be touring the United States with a lecture-recital exploring the work of the early 20th-century American "Ultra-Modernists." The co-founder of the new music ensemble "Siren Agenda," he also performs regularly with the Callithumpian Consort, Boston’s premier modern music ensemble. With the latter, he has recorded John Luther Adams's For Lou Harrison on New World Records, and will appear on two other upcoming releases by Mode Records with music by Earle Browne and Christian Wolff.

As a composer, Kirchoff is equally comfortable in acoustic and electronic mediums. The composer-in-residence at the Luzerne Music Center in 2005, Kirchoff was also guest composer at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2007. He has received commissions from tuba player Jeffrey Meyer, organist Mathew McConnell, and soprano Christine Keene. Often performing his own works in recital, his music has also been performed throughout the United States by many respected musicians and ensembles including the California E.A.R. Unit, the Firewire Ensemble, mezzo-soprano Erica Brookhyser, violinists Carmel Raz and Stephanie Skor, cellist Alex Kelly, and pianists Albert Muhlbock and Mabel Kwan. This past summer, Kirchoff was in residence at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts.

The winner of the 2006 Steinway Society Piano Competition and the 2005 John Cage Award, Kirchoff has won numerous other awards including the Silver Lake International Piano Concerto Competition, the Saint Paul Piano Teachers Association Competition, the Thursday Musical Competition, and the Saint Cloud Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition.

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. His first solo album, featuring the piano works of Frederic Rzewksi, will be released soon by Bridge Records.