Home : Faculty : Ned Kirk

Ned Kirk

Associate Professor
Piano, Music Theory
Music Scholarship Coordinator
152 St. Yon’s Hall
507-457-1513
Campus PO: #1460
nkirk@smumn.edu

Degrees
Courses Currently Taught
nedkirk.com
mnbeethovenfestival.org

Ned Kirk, is a native of Redding, California, where he received his early musical training. He has performed extensively as a piano soloist and chamber musician. Recent concert engagements have included the Phillips Collection and Polish Embassy in Washington D.C.; the Governor's Mansion and Second City Chamber Series in Washington State; the Elvehjem Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin; the University of Minnesota; Community Concerts Inc. in California; and concerto performances with the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin. 

Kirk has collaborated with numerous outstanding musicians, many of whom serve as conductors and principles in orchestras around the world - Michael Christie, Kevin Kenner, Charles Kavalowski, Glenn Einschlag, Olav Van Hezewijk, Ron Ephrat, Jeffrey Work, David Jones, Lisa-Maree Amos, Daniel Rothmuller and Donald McInnes.

In 2007, guided by the vision of Hugh Miller and with the collaboration of board members Ken Lanik and Julie Smith, Kirk helped create the Minnesota Beethoven Festival; the festival enjoyed a resoundingly successful inaugural season featuring both regional, national and international artists. He serves as Artistic and Managing Director.

Kirk is also a founding member of the Ambassador Trio, along with Ray Shows, violin, and Kirsten Whitson, cello. The trio's primary mission is to act as an educational ambassador within the region and beyond, bringing classical music experiences to audiences of all ages.

From 2002-2004, Kirk served as orchestral pianist for the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder. Over the course of three summers, he performed 25 concerts on piano, harpsichord and celesta including Stravinsky's Petrouchka, Piazzolla's Three Chamber Pieces for piano and string orchestra, a complete baroque program with Michala Petri (recorder), various chamber music concerts, and Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals for two pianos, with his wife, Caroline.

Kirk earned his Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Music as a student of Walter Hautzig and his Master of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, studying under Nigel Coxe. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance as a student of Craig Sheppard at the University of Washington. Additional piano and chamber music coaches have included Earl Carlyss, Tinka Knopp, Lillian Freundlich, Estela Olevsky, Charles Treger and Yefim Bronfman.

Kirk has been a faculty member at the Marrowstone Music Festival and spent four summers teaching piano masterclasses to students from rural Alaska at the Sitka Fine Arts Institute in Sitka, Alaska. Before moving to Minnesota in 1999, he served for seven years on the piano faculty at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. In addition to his involvement with the Minnesota Beethoven Festival, Kirk is also an associate professor of piano and chair of the music department at Saint Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota.