Quinlan Kirchner

Quinlan Kirchner first started his drumming carreer at the young age of 10 studying at the famed Academy of Movement and Music and Merit Music Program of Chicago. His early exposure to expressive arts and dedicated practice led him to earn a Basin Street Scholarship to the University of New Orleans, led by Ellis Marsalis, at the age of 18. There, Kirchner learned under the guidance of the city’s drumming masters including Ricky Sebastian, Jason Marsalis, Troy Davis and Johnny Vidacovich and his undergraduate studies led to a B.A. in Music, Jazz Studies, and the Gregory Frederico Senior of the Year Award. It was also while in New Orleans that Kirchner began recording and performing as an artist with such groups as QMRplus, Red Shift, The Other Planets, The Hall Monitors, Jeff Albert, Irene Sage & Ed Petersen.

After the dislocation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Kirchner headed to New York for Masters studies at the Manhattan School of Music under John Riley before relocating to Chicago. In the 4 years since his return to his native Chicago, Kirchner has become a ubiquitous drumming force thoughout the city’s diverse music scene performing with such musicians as Jeb Bishop, Danielle D’Agaro, Greg Ward and Dave Rempis as well as groups including NOMO, Leaf Bird, blink., Greg Ward’s Fitted Shards, In Tall Buildings, ZING! & Lucky 7s to name a few. Kirchner has toured extensively in the US and Canada as well as in France, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK, performing in venues and on stages as diverse as Pritzker Pavillion/Millenium Park (Chicago), Belly Up Aspen, Music Meeting Festival (Nijmegen), Sudpole (Luzern), Michigan Theater Ann Arbor, Chicago Jazz Festival, Au Foin de la Rue (St. Denis), Bowery Ballroom (NYC), New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Moers Festival, and the Montreal Jazz Festival. In addition to performance, Kirchner has participated in several musical education programs including those organized by Jazz Aspen Snowmass and L’Aeronef in Lille, France. Most recently, Kirchner was selected as a member of the New Generation, a cross-cultural exchange in Dortmund, Germany led by Georg Graewe and Tobias Delias as part of the Ruhr 2010 Cultural Capital of Europe.

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