Daniel Dorff

Daniel Dorff's music has been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, commissioned 6 times by the Philadelphia Orchestra's education department resulting in over 20 performances, and commissioned twice by the Minnesota Orchestra's Kinder Konzert series which has performed his music over 250 times. 

Dorff's works have also been performed by the Atlanta Opera (60 performances), Baltimore Symphony (32 performances), Pittsburgh Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, and Eastman Wind Ensemble; chamber concerts of the Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and Oregon Symphony; on the Chicago Symphony Radiothon, by clarinetists of the Chicago Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic, by pianist Marc-André Hamelin, flutists Jean-Pierre Rampal, Walfrid Kujala, Donald Peck, and Denis Bouriakov; and conducted by maestros Alan Gilbert and Wolfgang Sawallisch. Other commissions have come from Walfrid Kujala, the Colorado Symphony’s Up Close and Musical series, Sacramento Symphony, Young Audiences, American Composers Forum, Ithaca College School of Music, Symphony in C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony), Network for New Music, National Flute Association Piccolo Committee, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, and other organizations. Dorff has also created arrangements for Sir James Galway and pop musicians Keith Emerson and Lisa Loeb. 

Flutist Leonard Garrison, clarinetist Shannon Scott, and pianist Rajung Yang released a critically-acclaimed all-Dorff CD in 2013 for Albany Records, featuring all Dorff's flute/clarinet music to date, plus bonus tracks.

Recent and upcoming premieres include:
-Sonata (Three Lakes) for flute and piano, commissioned and premiered by Cindy Anne Broz
-Musetta Steps Out, premiered by the Ellipsis Saxophone Quartet at the 2014 convention of the North American Saxophone Alliance
-In A Deep Funk for solo bass clarinet, premiere by Barbara Haney at the 2014 ICA ClarinetFest
-Flash! for Piccolo and Orchestra; orchestra version commissioned by Sarah Jackson for performances t.b.a.
-Cape May Breezes, a wind quintet (in progress), commissioned by Jenny Cline for The Monmouth Winds
-Zoe and Xena, for piccolo and bass clarinet (in progress), commissioned by Leonard Garrison for Shannon Scott

Flowers of St. Francis - Five Scenes for solo Bass Clarinet was premiered by Barbara Haney in Assisi Italy at the International Clarinet Association's annual convention in July 2013, and Dorff's sixth commission for the Philadelphia Orchestra's education department (Old MacDonald Had an Orchestra) had premiere performances in Philadelphia and an encore the Aspen Music Festival in 2013. Highlights of 2013-14 season also include the Milwaukee Symphony in Three Fun Fables, and the Rockford (IL) Symphony in The Kiss, after the Painting by Gustav Klimt.

 

Daniel Dorff was born in New Rochelle, NY in 1956; acclaim came early with First Prize in the Aspen Music Festival's annual composers' competition at age 18 for his Fantasy, Scherzo and Nocturne for saxophone quartet. Dorff received degrees in composition from Cornell and University of Pennsylvania; teachers included George Crumb, George Rochberg, Karel Husa, Henry Brant, Ralph Shapey, Elie Siegmeister, and Richard Wernick. He studied saxophone with Sigurd Rascher. In 1996, Dorff was named Composer-In-Residence for Symphony in C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony), in which he played bass clarinet from 1980 through 2002.

Daniel Dorff serves as Vice President of Publishing for Theodore Presser Company; he is a sought-after expert on music engraving and notation, having lectured at many colleges as well as Carnegie Hall, and advising the leading notation software companies. He presently serves on the Board of Directors for the Music Publishers' Association of the USA, the Executive Board of The Charles Ives Society, and has served on the board of the National Flute Association.

Dorff's compositions have been published by Theodore Presser Company, Carl Fischer, Lauren Keiser Music (formerly MMB),  Shawnee Press, Mel Bay, Kendor Music, Tenuto Publications, and Golden Music, and recorded on Bridge, Crystal, Albany, Azica, and many other labels.