(allow the active x control to run to hear Larry's
composition Winter in Manhattan) Larry
Kerchner is a composer, lyricist, arranger, and producer
with years of experience in the music industry, having
received his extensive musical education at Berklee
College of Music and the Boston Conservatory of Music.
He is a voting member of The National Academy of Recording
Arts and Sciences, a two-time GRAMMY Award nominee,
and an Individual Artist Fellowship recipient. He is
also a member of the American Society of Composers,
Authors, and Publishers, and has had his work performed
at several ASCAP Songwriters’ Showcases. He is on the
Board of Directors of The Duke Ellington Center For
the Arts, and is a member of The New York Sheet Music
Society, The American Federation of Musicians, as well
as the Manhattan Association of Clubs and Cabarets.
Larry
has been the behind-the-scenes writing force for many
well-known shows and recordings through his numerous
works-for-hire. His song, Winter In Manhattan,
was performed by Michael Feinstein in his Swing In
the Holidays engagement at the Loews Regency, where,
nightly, it struck an appreciative nerve with Michael’s
audiences. New York Times critic, Stephen Holden,
praised this fresh addition to The Great American Songbook
as “Larry Kerchner’s soft-focus cityscape of New York.”
Larry recently won the 2013 Concerts for City Greens
Songwriting Competition, with Winter In Manhattan
as the winning entry.
The
star-studded shows, HIDDEN TREASURES I & II: The Songs of
Larry Kerchner were critically acclaimed and benefited The
Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative.
HIDDEN TREASURES III: More Songs of
Larry Kerchner, received rave reviews for its music and stellar cast,
as did HIDDEN TREASURES IV: Songs of Larry Kerchner, which took
place in May 2015, at New York City's famed Birdland and HIDDEN
TREASURES V: Songs of Larry Kerchner, which took place on November
7th at the Metropolitan Room.
Larry
has conducted his music on the Tonight Show,
the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon,
the Paul Anka Cerebral Palsy Telethon, the Mike
Douglas Show, the Merv Griffin Show, and
in venues such as the Copacabana, Westbury Music Fair,
the Waldorf-Astoria, and Harrah’s in Las Vegas, Reno,
and Lake Tahoe.
For
many years, Larry wrote the music for the Ringling Bros.
and Barnum & Bailey Circus – a volume of writing
that's not for the faint-hearted, according to Larry.
He has written over 300 published compositions and arrangements
for symphonic band, concert band, marching band, jazz
band, orchestra, and chorus, and is extremely active
in educational circles, having served as composer and
arranger for more than 80 Colleges and Universities,
and, through his published and custom work, thousands
of high schools throughout the world. He has arranged
for musical aggregations ranging from The Circus to
the Birdland Big Band, and was inducted into both the
Drum Corps International Hall of Fame and the World
Drum Corps Hall of Fame for his outstanding musical
contributions to the activity.
Larry
has performed in, and composed and arranged for stage,
nightclubs, arena shows, concerts, theaters, films,
TV and radio commercials, and symphony halls. His TV
and radio commercials include Arthur Treacher’s Fish
and Chips, McDonald’s, Woolworths, and Monmouth Race
Track. He’s composed, arranged or produced many recordings,
such as The Girl Can’t Quit!, Larry Kerchner’s
Signature Series, Magic Up Our Sleeve, Look
Out, Texas!, the gospel album, Where There’s
a Will, There’s a Way, and Girl Talk, with
the Washington Pops Orchestra and Chorus. He has also
written for the world-famous US Army Herald Trumpets.
Additionally, Larry composed the Kwanzaa anthem, Happy
Kwanzaa!, and wrote special lyrics for Dave Brubeck’s
Unsquare Dance, Home, from “The Wiz,” and
Somewhere In Time.
Larry
recently produced an album of Richard A. Whiting
songs for My Ideal Music, whose president is Debbi Whiting,
daughter of renowned singer, Margaret Whiting and famed
arranger/pianist Lou Busch (aka Joe “Fingers” Carr),
and granddaughter of legendary songwriter, Richard A.
Whiting (Too Marvelous for Words, Hooray For
Hollywood, On the Good Ship Lollipop).
Larry’s
eclectic musical career is unique. To be able to write
in so many different styles, from Jazz to Pop to Country
to Cabaret to Children’s music is truly a gift – one
Larry Kerchner is happy to share after years of keeping
his many talents close to the vest.
In
addition to his many professional activities, Larry
produced, rehearsed, directed, and accompanied countless
productions at his children’s schools . . . then “cleaned
up and stacked the chairs.”
Larry is married to pianist and French horn player, Annette Kerchner.
After a romantic proposal at Feinstein's in the middle of Michael's show
(where Michael was "in on the act"), Larry and Annette were married in New
York City in January of
2012. Larry has two daughters, Lauren Kerchner, a graduate of NYU's Tisch
School of the Arts, who lives in Dublin, Ireland, and tours with the band,
September Girls, and Caitlin Kerchner, a graduate of the American Musical and
Dramatic Academy, who resides in New York and continues to pursue a career as an
actor and singer.

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