Ned Kirk, pianist, is a native of Redding, California, where he received his early musical training. For the past 25 years, Kirk has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician with performances in Europe, Africa and Asia as well as the United States. 2011-2012 engagements include recitals with legendary saxophonist Branford Marsalis, a second State Department-sponsored tour of Kenya, and recitals and master classes in the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
Kirk has collaborated with numerous outstanding musicians, many of whom serve as conductors and principles in major orchestras around the world - Michala Petri, Michael Christie, Kevin Kenner, Qian Zhou, Li-Wei Qin, Lionel Tan, Charles Kavalowski, Glenn Einschlag, Olav Van Hezewijk, Ron Ephrat, Jeffrey Work, David Jones, Lisa-Maree Amos, Daniel Rothmuller and Donald McInnes.
Since 2007, Kirk has served as artistic and managing director of the Minnesota Beethoven Festival, a three-week festival offering 11 concerts in six different venues and attended every year by over 12,000 people. Now in its sixth season, the festival is dedicated to showcasing the tremendous talent found in the region as well as featuring some of the most important international concert artists of our time including Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, Marc-André Hamelin, Branford Marsalis, Thomas Hampson and many others. The festival is also pleased to feature the Minnesota Orchestra in two performances each summer. Kirk also served as orchestral pianist for the Colorado Music Festival from 2002 to 2004, was a faculty member at the Marrowstone Music Festival and spent four summers teaching piano master classes to students from rural Alaska at the Sitka Fine Arts Institute in Sitka, Alaska.
Kirk studied at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, and holds a doctorate degree from the University of Washington. His piano and chamber music coaches have included Craig Sheppard, Walter Hautzig, Nigel Coxe, Earl Carlyss, Tinka Knopp, Lillian Freundlich, Estela Olevsky, Charles Treger and Yefim Bronfman.
In addition to his work with the Minnesota Beethoven Festival, Kirk is also professor of piano and chair of the music department at Saint Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota.
