Well known and acclaimed for her concert performances, Joan Kirchner also serves as vocal soloist, organist, and music director at churches on Cape Cod, where she makes her home. In 2018, Joan was appointed Music Minister at Holy Spirit Episcopal in Orleans, MA.
If you would like information about weddings, please write to Joan.
Joan has long-standing and deep connections with church music. She began organ lessons while attending Houghton College in New York State as she searched for career options in the world of music. Her first teacher was National Competition Winner John Chappell Stowe, and from the initial moment on the bench she never looked back. Despite parental concerns about job security, Joan pursued a Bachelor's degree in Church Music and went on to earn a Master's in Church Music and Organ Performance with distinction from the renowned organ department at Indiana University in Bloomington, where she studied with Larry Smith. She was Marilyn Keiser's first student intern at Trinity Church in Bloomington, and also studied privately with Russell Saunders at the Eastman School of Music in the summers.
Joan Kirchner has served churches in Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina, and Nantucket, Wellfleet, and Barnstable on the Cape and Islands, directing graded children and adult vocal and handbell choirs and concert series. She has also been appointed to Diocesan Liturgical Committees in Massachusetts and North Carolina, leading hymnal workshops, diocesan youth choir festivals, and summer camp and festival services.