Daniel Dorff
Encyclopedia
Daniel Dorff is an American composer
, and is regarded as one of the most influential of his generation. He graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University
and earned his master's degree in composition from the University of Pennsylvania
, studying composition with George Crumb
, George Rochberg
, Karel Husa
, Henry Brant
, Ralph Shapey
, Elie Siegmeister
, and Richard Wernick
. Dorff is currently composer-in-residence for Symphony In C
(formerly called Haddonfield [NJ] Symphony). His works have been commissioned by such ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra
and the Minnesota Orchestra
, and performed by groups and individuals including the Baltimore Symphony, Eastman Wind Ensemble
, flutists and clarinetists of the Chicago Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic, pianist Marc-André Hamelin
, and flutists Jean-Pierre Rampal
, and Denis Bouriakov
. He has also created arrangements for Sir James Galway and pop musicians Keith Emerson
and Lisa Loeb
.
Dorff has written many frequently-performed recital works for woodwinds, and music for orchestra
, concert band
, piano
, chorus
, and chamber ensembles, including often-neglected instruments as contrabassoon
, piccolo
, and tenor saxophone
, the best-known of which are Sonatine de Giverny and Flash!, both for piccolo and piano. He has taken a particular interest in exposing young people to classical music; many of his works are written for young audiences, including Three Fun Fables, a setting for narrator and orchestra of familiar Aesop
tales; Billy and the Carnival, a narrated guide to the instruments of the orchestra; Blast Off!, a travelog of a trip to outer space (the score to which was flown by NASA on the 100th mission of the Space Shuttle); and familiar stories such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, and The Tortoise and the Hare., and Stone Soup: An Operatic Fable in One Delicious Act which has enjoyed well over 1000 performances.
In addition to his compositional career, Dorff is a clarinet
ist and saxophonist
and was bass clarinetist for the Haddonfield Symphony for 20 years prior to Alan Gilbert appointing him composer-in-residence. He frequently lectures on music engraving and notation, a subject in which he is expert. Dorff is currently vice president of publishing for music publisher Theodore Presser Company
; his input has also been sought in the development of leading music notation software.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and is regarded as one of the most influential of his generation. He graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and earned his master's degree in composition from the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, studying composition with George Crumb
George Crumb
George Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born...
, George Rochberg
George Rochberg
George Rochberg was an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Life:Rochberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He attended the Mannes College of Music, where his teachers included George Szell and Hans Weisse, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Rosario Scalero and...
, Karel Husa
Karel Husa
Karel Husa is a Czech-born classical composer and conductor, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize and 1993 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition...
, Henry Brant
Henry Brant
Henry Dreyfuss Brant was a Canadian-born American composer. An expert orchestrator with a flair for experimentation, many of Brant's works featured spatialization techniques.- Biography :...
, Ralph Shapey
Ralph Shapey
Ralph Shapey was an American composer and conductor. He is well-known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago, where he founded and directed the Contemporary Chamber Players...
, Elie Siegmeister
Elie Siegmeister
Elie Siegmeister was an American composer, educator and author.His varied musical output showed his concern with the development of an authentic American musical vocabulary...
, and Richard Wernick
Richard Wernick
Richard Wernick in Boston, Massachusetts is a US composer. He is best known for his composition "Visions of Terror and Wonder," which won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Music.-Career:...
. Dorff is currently composer-in-residence for Symphony In C
Symphony in C
Symphony in C may refer to:* a number of symphonies written in the key of C major** symphonies referred to by their key exclusively:*** Symphony in C major - Richard Wagner's Symphony in C...
(formerly called Haddonfield [NJ] Symphony). His works have been commissioned by such ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
and the Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
, and performed by groups and individuals including the Baltimore Symphony, Eastman Wind Ensemble
Eastman Wind Ensemble
The Eastman Wind Ensemble is an American concert band founded by Frederick Fennell at the Eastman School of Music in 1952. It is often credited with helping popularize wind music. Through the group, Fennell redefined wind ensemble to refer to a specific kind of wind band with only one player per...
, flutists and clarinetists of the Chicago Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic, pianist Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ, is a French Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Marc-André Hamelin began his piano studies at the age of five. His father, a pharmacist by trade who was also a pianist, introduced him to the works of Alkan, Godowsky, and Sorabji when he was...
, and flutists Jean-Pierre Rampal
Jean-Pierre Rampal
Jean-Pierre Louis Rampal was a French flautist. He has been personally "credited with returning to the flute the popularity as a solo classical instrument it had not held since the 18th century."-Early years:...
, and Denis Bouriakov
Denis Bouriakov
Denis V. Bouriakov is a Russian flautist and principal flutist of the New York's Metropolitan Opera.- Biography :...
. He has also created arrangements for Sir James Galway and pop musicians Keith Emerson
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
and Lisa Loeb
Lisa Loeb
Lisa Anne Loeb is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She launched her career in 1994 with the song, "Stay ". She was the first artist to have a number one single in the United States while not signed to a recording contract.Loeb's efforts now include music, film, television, voice-over...
.
Dorff has written many frequently-performed recital works for woodwinds, and music for orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, concert band
Concert band
A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...
, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, and chamber ensembles, including often-neglected instruments as contrabassoon
Contrabassoon
The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower...
, piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
, and tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, the best-known of which are Sonatine de Giverny and Flash!, both for piccolo and piano. He has taken a particular interest in exposing young people to classical music; many of his works are written for young audiences, including Three Fun Fables, a setting for narrator and orchestra of familiar Aesop
Aesop
Aesop was a Greek writer credited with a number of popular fables. Older spellings of his name have included Esop and Isope. Although his existence remains uncertain and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a...
tales; Billy and the Carnival, a narrated guide to the instruments of the orchestra; Blast Off!, a travelog of a trip to outer space (the score to which was flown by NASA on the 100th mission of the Space Shuttle); and familiar stories such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, and The Tortoise and the Hare., and Stone Soup: An Operatic Fable in One Delicious Act which has enjoyed well over 1000 performances.
In addition to his compositional career, Dorff is a clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
ist and saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
and was bass clarinetist for the Haddonfield Symphony for 20 years prior to Alan Gilbert appointing him composer-in-residence. He frequently lectures on music engraving and notation, a subject in which he is expert. Dorff is currently vice president of publishing for music publisher Theodore Presser Company
Theodore Presser Company
The Theodore Presser Company is an American music publishing and distribution company located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and formerly based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuing music publisher in the United States.-Theodore Presser:...
; his input has also been sought in the development of leading music notation software.
Selected works
- Andante con Variazioni for flute and clarinet
- April Whirlwind for flute and piano
- August Idyll for solo flute
- Billy and the Carnival: A Children's Guide to Musical Instruments for Narrator and Orchestra
- Blast Off! for narrator and orchestra
- Concerto for Contrabassoon with clarinet, horn, and strings
- Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
- Concerto for Solo Percussion and Orchestra
- Dance Music for Eb Clarinet and Piano
- Deep Funk, Part 2, Dance Sonata for viola solo (2002)
- Fantasy, Scherzo and Nocturne for saxophone quartet
- Fast Walk for saxophone quartet or clarinet quartet or bassoon quartet
- Flash! for piccolo and piano
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears for narrator with orchestra or mixed octet
- Hot Spots (Seven Chakras) for tenor saxophone and piano
- In a Deep Funk dance set for solo contrabassoon
- It Takes Four to Tango, sax quartet or clarinet quartet (or many other instrumentations)
- The Kiss, orchestra, after a painting by Gustav KlimtGustav KlimtGustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects...
- 9 Walks Down 7th Avenue for flute and piano
- Nocturne Caprice for solo flute
- Pastorale (Souvenirs du Frög) for clarinet and piano
- Peaceful Journey for cello and piano
- Perennials for flute, clarinet, and piano
- Philly Rhapsody for orchestra
- Serenade to Eve, After Rodin for flute and guitar
- Sonata for Flute and Piano (Three Lakes)
- Sonatina d'Amore for two contrabassoons
- Sonatine de Giverny for piccolo and piano
- Spark for viola solo (2009)
- Stone Soup: An Operatic Fable in One Act, an opera for young audiences with soloists, mixed choir, and accompaniment
- Summer Solstice for clarinet and strings
- Symphony of Delusions for large wind ensemble
- The Day Things Went Wrong at the Pet Store - 11 Cartoons for Piano
- Three Dance Etudes for marimba duo or ensemble
- Three Fun Fables, for narrator and orchestra or mixed octet
- The Three Little Pigs for narrator, violin, and cello
- Three Mysteries for violin and percussion
- Three Romances for flute and clarinet
- The Tortoise and the Hare for narrator and orchestra or mixed octet
- The Year of the Rabbit for flute quartet or ensemble
- Through a Misty Arch for flute ensemble
- Tweet for solo piccolo
- Woodland Reverie for solo flute