Dan Forrest

For the politician with a similar name, see Dan Forest.
Dan Forrest
Dan Forrest, 2017
Born (1978-01-07)January 7, 1978
Elmira, New York
Nationality American
Education Bob Jones University, University of Kansas
Occupation Composer, Pianist, Educator
Employer Freelance Composer, Beckenhorst Press
Known for Choral/Orchestral Composer
Website http://www.danforrest.com/

Daniel Ernest Forrest Jr. (born January 7, 1978) is a composer, pianist, educator, and music editor.

Biography

Dan Forrest was born in Elmira, New York. He displayed an early interest in and aptitude for music and began piano lessons with his elementary school music teacher at the age of eight. In high school he won numerous piano awards, accompanied honors choirs, and performed the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Elmira Symphony. He majored in piano at Bob Jones University, earning a B.Mus. and an M.Mus. in Piano Performance, while also studying advanced theory and composition with Joan Pinkston and Dwight Gustafson. After teaching piano for three years in South Carolina, he moved to Kansas where he earned a D.M.A. in composition from the University of Kansas, where he studied with wind band composer James Barnes. Forrest also studied with Alice Parker and counts her as one of his foremost influences.[1] Forrest's compositions include choral, instrumental, orchestral, and wind band works. His music appears in the catalogs of numerous publishers, primarily Beckenhorst Press (church music) and Hinshaw Music (concert music). In 2018, he began self-publishing his concert music through his own business, The Music of Dan Forrest, which is distributed by Beckenhorst Press. His published works have sold millions of copies worldwide. [2]

Forrest's choral works have received the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Award[3], the ACDA Raymond Brock Award[4], a Meet The Composer grant, the University of Kansas Cius Award[5], the ALCM Raabe Prize[6], and several other awards and distinctions. Forrest's music is performed regularly in leading venues around the world including Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, and on NPR’s Performance Today.[7] A review in The Salt Lake Tribune referred to Forrest's "superb choral writing" and gave as an example his arrangement of "The First Noel," which it said was "full of spine-tingling moments." [8] He is one of a small number of composers whose works have been included in both Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir and Teaching Music Through Performance In Band [9][10]. Forrest's Requiem for the Living (2013) is perhaps his best known work,[11] having received several hundred performances worldwide; his other major works, Jubilate Deo (2016) and LUX: The Dawn From On High (2018) are also becoming just as widely performed.[12]

Forrest taught music theory and composition at The University of Kansas as a graduate assistant from 2004 to 2007, and at Bob Jones University from 2007 to 2012, where he served as chairman of the department of music theory and composition. He now serves as co-editor at Beckenhorst Press[13], regularly teaches composition lessons and masterclasses, and speaks about composing, music-making, aesthetics, music publishing, and the music business in guest-artist residencies with universities and choirs in the US and abroad. He also serves as Artist-in-Residence at Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church (PCA), Greenville, SC.[14]

Style

Forrest is equally at home in concert music and church music, with extensive background in both domains, and he composes for ensembles across the spectrum of choral music. His background in academia and experience with professional choirs and orchestras allows him to write complex music that requires sophisticated performers, yet he also writes music accessible for amateur choirs.[15] He is known for his skill in writing melodic lines for all voices and instruments, which he attributes to his study with Alice Parker and James Barnes.[16] His choral works are known for their sensitivity to the nuances, speech rhythms, and deeper meanings of their texts.[17] Additionally, his skill as a pianist and his training and experience in instrumentation/orchestration result in accompaniments that are known for their idiomatic writing and effective, impactful, and efficient scoring.[18]

Awards

  • 2004 John Ness Beck Foundation, first place (with noted composer John Rutter taking second place).[19] His winning composition was a choral setting of "The King of Love My Shepherd Is".[20]
  • 2005 American Choral Directors Association Raymond Brock Composition Competition. His winning piece, "Selah", was premiered at the ACDA convention in 2006.[21]
  • 2006 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award for selected movements from Words From Paradise, an extended work for a cappella choir. He was presented his award at the Lincoln Center.[20]
  • 2009 John Ness Beck Foundation, first place.[22]
  • 2009 Raabe Prize, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, for his In Paradisum[23]
  • 2009 Frank Ticheli International Wind Band Composition Contest, Finalist.[24]
  • Numerous other awards from composition contests[25], musical societies (Forrest was inducted into Delta Omicron musical society in 2015), honorary memberships, etc.

Notable Performances

  • On February 11, 2007, Forrest's music was performed in Carnegie Hall for the first time, with the world premiere of "Arise, Shine!". [26] His works are now performed there on a regular basis.
  • On Christmas Day 2008, National Public Radio featured Forrest's "Carol of Joy" on Performance Today.[27]
  • On March 24, 2013 Forrest's "Requiem for the Living" was premiered as a commissioned work by The Hickory Choral Society, in honor of the organization's 35th anniversary.[28]
  • In spring 2016, Forrest's Jubilate Deo was premiered as a commissioned work by the Indianapolis Children's Choirs, in honor of founder Henry Leck's retirement.[29]
  • In fall 2018, Forrest's LUX: The Dawn From On High was premiered as a commissioned work by the Greenville Chorale and Symphony, conducted by Bingham Vick, Jr.[30]
  • Other commissioned premieres include Himenami (in Izumi Hall, Osaka, Japan)[31], Non Nobis Domine (in Salzburg Cathedral, Austria, July 2018)[32], and many others.

Works

Personal Life

Forrest is married and has three children. He is a devout Christian, and sees all of his musical work as an outgrowth of his faith.[33]

References

  1. ↑ Beckenhorst Press bio.
  2. ↑ Forrest website.
  3. ↑ "The ASCAP Foundation Names Recipients of the 2006 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  4. ↑ Inc., Advanced Solutions International,. "Brock Home". acda.org. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  5. ↑ "MTHC Anthony B. Cius, Jr. Award". School of Music. 2013-07-25. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  6. ↑ "Prize Winners - Association of Lutheran Church Musicians". Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  7. ↑ Teaching Music Through Performance in Band vol. 8. According to the composer's website, nearly a million copies of his choral works are in print. Forrest website.
  8. ↑ Salt Lake Tribune review, December 3, 2011.
  9. ↑ "GIA Publications - Teaching Music through Performance in Band - Volume 8, Grades 2 & 3". www.giamusic.com. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  10. ↑ "Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir, Vol. 4, Table of Contents" (PDF).
  11. ↑ Paul Hyde, "Greenville Chorale presents Forrest's soaring 'Requiem,'" Greenville News, October 12, 2014; Forrest website. A review in the Greenville News called the work "highly accessible, with soaring melodies and luminous harmony" that reminded the reviewer of Aaron Copland, John Rutter, and James Horner. Greenville News, October 21, 2014, 5A.
  12. ↑ Forrest website.
  13. ↑ "Staff". www.beckenhorstpress.com. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
  14. ↑ "Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church Staff". mitchellroad.org.
  15. ↑ "The Inside Voice: An Interview with Dan Forrest | Cued In - The J.W. Pepper Music Blog". blogs.jwpepper.com. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
  16. ↑ "Conversations: VCS' Mike Horanski Interviews Dan Forrest | Vienna Choral Society". viennachoralsociety.org. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
  17. ↑ Lanee, Cope, Lindsey (2015). The Power of Three in Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living (Thesis). University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
  18. ↑ "Abstracts of Recent SWBTS School of Church Music Doctoral Dissertations". Artistic Theologian. 2013-11-15. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
  19. ↑ John Ness Beck Foundation winners.
  20. 1 2 Vanguard website.
  21. ↑ Brock awards
  22. ↑ Beck Foundation website.
  23. ↑ ALCM Raabe prizes Archived 2012-09-22 at the Wayback Machine.
  24. ↑ Ticheli contest.
  25. ↑ "composers 2004-6". www.vanguardvoices.org. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
  26. ↑ Carnegie Hall program. The Shawnee Mission East Choraliers, under the direction of Tracy Resseguie, performed "Arise, Shine!" on the same program with Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna (1997).
  27. ↑ "Carol of Joy" was performed by The Brigham Young University Choirs and Orchestra with conductor Ronald Staheli at the Harris Fine Arts Center, Provo, Utah, and in October 2008 the University of Utah Singers released a Christmas album titled "Carol of Joy", which featured the song. See University of Utah combined choirs concert performance video of "Carol of Joy"
  28. ↑ "Hickory Choral Society to perform at church". HDR | Hickory Daily Record. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  29. ↑ Dan Forrest: Jubilate Deo by Indianapolis Children's Choir (Premiere Recording)
  30. ↑ "Greenville Chorale prepares to premiere new work by composer Dan Forrest". The Greenville News. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
  31. ↑ Dan Forrest (2013-12-05), Himenami PREMIERE (Dan Forrest/Charles Anthony Silvestri), retrieved 2018-08-18
  32. ↑ Dan Forrest (2018-07-08), Non Nobis, Domine (Dan Forrest) World Premiere - Salzburg Cathedral, retrieved 2018-08-18
  33. ↑ "What I Believe". The Music of Dan Forrest. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.