Shawn Kirchner has sung on the soundtracks of Frozen, Avatar and La La Land, but his own compositions draw from a different musical world: gospel hymns, bluegrass harmonies and American folk songs transformed into intricate choral works.
The Los Angeles composer, pianist and singer brings that music to the University of Miami’s Frost Chorale on Friday, Oct. 30, joining the ensemble at the piano for a 7:30 p.m. concert at Gusman Concert Hall. The evening will also feature the Frost Honors Choir, bringing high school singers together with university musicians.
Under conductors Matthew Brady and Gene Peterson, the Chorale will perform selections from Kirchner’s catalog alongside other works representing the range of contemporary choral music.
From Iowa hymns to Hollywood soundtracks
Kirchner grew up in Cedar Falls, Iowa, with his triplet brother and sister. His early musical education combined classical piano training with the hymns and congregational singing of the Church of the Brethren, a denomination with a longstanding commitment to peace and social justice.
He studied peace studies at Manchester University in Indiana before earning a master’s degree in choral conducting from the University of Iowa.
Those influences help explain a compositional style that moves comfortably between church music, American folk traditions and classical choral writing.
Kirchner has been a tenor with the Los Angeles Master Chorale since 2001 and served as its Swan Family Composer in Residence from 2012 to 2015. His career has included performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and contributions to roughly four dozen feature film soundtracks, including Frozen, Avatar, La La Land and the X-Men series.
His compositions have traveled even farther.
Perhaps his best-known work is Wana Baraka, his arrangement of a Kenyan song. The Nairobi Chamber Choir performed it at Windsor Castle during celebrations marking Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
He has also written choral cycles setting poetry by Sylvia Plath, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Pablo Neruda, along with Psalm settings titled Songs of Ascent. His bluegrass and country songwriting is represented on his album Meet Me on the Mountain.
In 2026, he received the Blackwell Prize in Music, recognizing his work as a composer.
When bluegrass meets classical choral technique
Kirchner’s music can ask classically trained singers to sound like a bluegrass ensemble one moment and execute elaborate counterpoint the next.
An example is Unclouded Day, the third movement of his Heavenly Home: Three American Songs. The arrangement begins with a relatively straightforward statement of a traditional gospel hymn before building into an energetic combination of bluegrass vocal inflections, overlapping melodic lines and fugue.
The result is music that demands classical precision without losing the directness and rhythmic character of its folk origins.
An early information sheet for visiting high school singers identified Unclouded Day and I’ll Be on My Way as selections. The latter also appears on Kirchner’s Meet Me on the Mountain album.
The university’s public concert description, however, does not identify a final repertoire or say whether Wana Baraka will be performed.
Kirchner’s own concert calendar confirms that he will perform at the piano, giving the audience an opportunity to hear his music with the composer participating directly in its interpretation.
High school singers join the Chorale
The performance also marks the culmination of the Frost Honors Choir program, which brings high school students to the university for a day devoted to choral music.
The program offers younger singers an opportunity to rehearse and perform in a university setting, working alongside experienced conductors and musicians.
Preliminary event materials describe rehearsals beginning at 9 a.m., with Kirchner participating as guest clinician and Brady working with the singers. The day concludes with the evening concert at Gusman.
For students considering further musical training, the experience places them within the rehearsal and performance environment of a major university music school.
The Frost Chorale and its musical tradition
The Frost Chorale has a history of ambitious programming and collaborations with prominent musicians.
Under former director Jo-Michael Scheibe, the ensemble performed with artists including Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras and Michael Tilson Thomas. Its continuing work combines traditional choral repertoire with contemporary compositions and new approaches to ensemble performance.
Brady, who joined the Frost choral faculty in 2024, and Peterson will lead Friday’s concert.
The performance takes place at Gusman Concert Hall, the university’s approximately 600-seat concert venue on Miller Drive. Its natural acoustics have made it a regular setting for choral, orchestral and jazz performances, including the Frost Symphony Orchestra concerts previously covered by the Gazette.
For audiences more familiar with classical choral repertoire, Kirchner offers a different way into the art form: music that treats the sounds of a church choir, a folk gathering and a concert hall as parts of the same tradition.
If you go…
The Frost Chorale featuring Shawn Kirchner | Frost Chorale & Frost Honors Choir
When: Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Drive, University of Miami, Coral Gables
Conductors: Matthew Brady and Gene Peterson
Guest artist: Shawn Kirchner, composer and pianist
Tickets: $30, $25 and $15
Online viewing: The university lists a livestream option for the performance.
Tickets, livestream information and additional program details are available on the University of Miami’s official event page.
Author: Coral Gables Gazette News Staff
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