Kirchner, Leon,1919–, American composer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Kirchner studied at the Univ. of California at Berkeley with Ernest Bloch, Arnold Schoenberg, and Roger Sessions. He was professor of music at Harvard (1961–91). Although he uses many of the most modern techniques of composition, including electronics, he is a self-proclaimed romantic. Among his works are two piano concertos (1953 and 1963); three string quartets (1949, 1958, and 1967), the third for strings and tape; and the opera Lily, 1974.
