David Kechley’s early memories of his father, composer Gerald Kechley, playing and refining passages at the piano over and over and over… led him toward a musical career. His early work is highly chromatic and expressionist as exemplified by Second Composition for Large Orchestra, premiered by the Seattle Symphony in 1968. Modality and lyricism followed later as did minimalist tendencies in the early 1990s. His music now draws from a variety of sources including classic works of the twentieth century and the more distant past, but also the present including forms of vernacular, popular, and ethnic music. Although these influences are generally integrated into a consistent style, the resulting musical narratives often create sharp contrasts between lyricism, virtuosity, and dramatic gesture.
Born in Seattle, Washington, March 16, 1947, Kechley was educated at the University of Washington, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Case Western Reserve University. His teachers include Paul Tufts, Robert Suderburg, William Bergsma, James Beale, and Donald Erb. His music is available and released on the Liscio Recordings, Albany Records, Reference Recording, and others. His music is published by Pine Valley Press.