T R I S T A N M c G E H E E
C O N D U C T O R | C O M P O S E R
TRISTAN McGEHEE (they/them, b. 1999) is an award-winning composer, conductor, and violinist from Kansas City, Kansas. In 2019, they graduated as a double-major from the University of Kansas School of Music with a B.M.A. in Music Composition and Music Theory. While in their undergraduate studies, McGehee held various leadership positions, including: president (Kansas New Music Guild), music director (Bluestem Chamber Orchestra), concertmaster (KU University Orchestra), and first violinist (Vertigo String Quartet). McGehee’s far-reaching impact has included concert music as well as music for the stage and screen. They currently reside in Kansas City, where they are studying Music Composition as a M.M. Candidate under the guidance of Professors Dr. Ingrid Stölzel, Dr. Scott Murphy, and Dr. Martin Nedbal. Raised in a multi-instrumentalist family, McGehee’s musical language is rich with idioms inspired by rock, pop, blues, gospel, bluegrass, as well as composers of the early 20th-century.
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“Lost in the Wheatfields: My Heart and Home”
song cycle for mixed voice types and solo piano | 2023 | 21’
A collection of cycle of seven texts, notably featuring Kansas poets and music inspired by the natural beauty of the unique plains of the Heart of America.
- R E C E N T N E W S -
Symphonic Celebration dispersion of light to be Premiered by the KU Symphony Orchestra
Inspired by the journey by which light passes through a prism and disperses itself into a kaleidoscope of colors, this latest orchestra piece by Tristan McGehee wins the distinguished 2022 George Lawner Prize - earning a world premiere performance by the American-Prize-winning University of Kansas’s own Symphony Orchestra. Recording soon to be released on SoundCloud!