Ned Kirk

Ned Kirk, artistic and managing director of the Minnesota Beethoven Festival, is a native of Redding, California, where he received his early musical training.  He has performed extensively in the United States and Europe as a piano solist and chamber musician. 

In 2007, guided by the vision of Hugh Miller and with the collaboration of board members Ken Lanik and Julie Smith, Kirk helped fund the Minnesota Beethoven Festival.  Now in its third 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, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Branford Marsalis, Thomas Hampson and many others.  The festival is also proud to feature the Minnesota Orchestra in two performances each summer. 

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-Saens' 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 as a student of Craig Sheppard at the University of Washington.  Before moving to Minnesota in 1999, he served on the piano faculty at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington.  In addition to his work 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