Kirke Mechem (born August 16, 1925) is an American composer. His first opera, Tartuffe, with over 400 performances in seven countries, has become one of the most popular operas written by an American. He has composed more than 250 works in almost every form. In 2002, ASCAP registered performances of his music in 42 countries. He has been called the "dean of American choral composers". His memoir, Believe Your Ears: Life of a Lyric Composer, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2015; it won ASCAP Foundation's 48th annual Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for outstanding musical biography. Biography Mechem was born August 16, 1925, in Wichita, Kansas. During World War II, he served two and half years in the army, and then enrolled at Stanford University. He took a harmony course taught by Harold Schmidt, the choral director, and continued his study of harmony and counterpoint, changing his major to music at the end of his junior year. His principal teachers at Stanford were Leonard Ratner (harmony and counterpoint) and Sandor Salgo (orchestration and conducting). In his senior year, Mechem orchestrated and conducted the student variety show. He earned a master's degree at Harvard in 1953, studying composition with Walter Piston and Randall Thompson, and was winner of the Boott Prize for vocal composition. He was assistant choral director for three years at Stanford, composing both choral and instrumental music and conducting an opera. He lived in Vienna, Austria in 1956–57 and 1961–63. In 1963, Mechem returned to the Bay Area with his wife and children and settled into the house in San Francisco. He became composer-in-residence at the University of San Francisco and has also taught at other universities as a guest composer and conductor. On May 13, 2012, Mechem received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Kansas for "notable contributions to choral music and opera". He has also received lifetime-achievement awards from the National Opera Association and the American Choral Directors Association Western Division. Career Most of Mechem's early work was for chorus. Some of these pieces, composed as an undergraduate and graduate student, were published, including "Make A Joyful Noise", (recorded by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) and "Give Thanks Unto The Lord." The latter won the tri-annual SAI American Music Award in 1959. His Opus 5 was a Suite for Piano, later followed by a Piano Sonata and a book of teaching pieces called Whims. In