A native of rural Colorado, Leanna Kirchoff’s music career began in a farmyard, singing her own songs to an audience of family and a few barn cats. Her early musical development also included studying piano and accompanying the choir at her local church. Kirchoff credits these early experiences as the genesis for her work as a composer whose catalog of music has grown to include many kinds of songs, musical theater pieces, sacred and non-liturgical choral music, and operas.
Her chamber operas often examine women’s experiences featuring female characters and performers: The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret (2013), Scrapbookers (2015), Friday After Friday (2019), and Welcome to the Madness (2024), each explore the female perspective on marriage, sisterhood, surviving war and womens’ pioneering spirit. Kirchoff’s operas have been performed at universities and opera companies across the United States, including Opera Steamboat, Tufts University, the University of Miami, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Missouri State University, Opera del West, Gateway Opera, Really Spicy Opera, and others.
Kirchoff has been recognized with awards and grants from organizations including OPERA America, the National Opera Association, the American Composers Forum, the International Alliance of Women in Music, and the Sorel Organization. She is profiled in So You Want to Sing Music by Women, published by the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
She has been commissioned by Opera Steamboat, the Boulder Philharmonic, Ars Nova Singers, The Playground Ensemble, Soprani Compagni, the Colorado State Music Teachers Association, Stages Theatre Company and others. She holds a D.M.A. degree in composition from the University of Colorado and teaches composition at the University of Denver. She lives in Denver with her husband, daughter, and a cowdog named Bela.
