As a prolific writer of both vocal and instrumental music, Daniel Elder (b. 1986) ties these genres together to create forms and aesthetics that are at once lyrical and textural, sacred and secular, drawing roots particularly from the impressionist movement. Critics have hailed his unique musical tapestries as “deeply affecting” and "without peer," with heightened emotional evocations ranging from lush lyricism to jagged polyphony. He has won prizes in national and international competitions by organizations including The American Prize, Abbey Road Studios, CANTUS, and many others. Learn more at www.danieleldermusic.com.
Daniel was born on July 20, 1986 and raised in Jefferson, Georgia as the first of two sons. Including his mother’s second marriage, he is the eldest of six children.
Daniel received a Bachelor of Music in Music Composition from The University of Georgia in 2010. While at UGA he studied composition with Drs. Adrian Childs and Roger Vogel, and studied vocal performance with Dr. Stephanie Pierce. In the spring of 2009 he garnered his first awards in composition, at the Georgia Young Composer's Festival (second prize for A Dream Within a Dream) and The Choral Project's Choral Composition Competition (first prize for Lullaby). Then in the fall of 2010 he won first prize in the Arnold Salop Memorial Composition Competition with Due Miniature for woodwind quintet.
He received his Master of Music in Music Composition from Westminster Choir College in 2012, where he studied composition with Drs. Christian Carey and Benjamin Boyle and vocal performance with Devin Mariman. In 2011 he was selected as one of eight global prizewinners in the Abbey Road Studios 80th Anniversary Anthem Competition with The Heart's Reflection. Also in 2011 he was commissioned by the Westminster Choral Festival to write Seven Last Words from the Cross, later toured by the Westminster Choir in 2012. Daniel performed with the Westminster Choir for both years of graduate study, appearing numerous times as a baritone soloist and as the composer of two works performed by the choir during the course of his membership (Seven Last Words from the Cross and The Heart's Reflection). Upon graduation in 2012, Daniel was chosen as the composer of the Class of 2012 Commencement Anthem, performed by the graduating class during Westminster's commencement ceremony at Princeton University Chapel on May 12, 2012 (The Heart's Reflection).
In 2012 Daniel presented his work O Magnum Mysterium at The University of Notre Dame's Sacred Music Conference, and in 2013 was selected as the grand prizewinner of the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers' Composition Competition with the same work. The Westminster Choir recorded his first commercial album in early 2013, released by Naxos of America to critical acclaim in October of that year. In 2014 he placed second in the professional division of The American Prize in Choral Composition with Three Themes of Life and Love. Apart from freelance composition, Daniel also reached the semi-final round of auditions for Staff Arranger with both The United States "President's Own" Marine Band (2014) and The United States Army Field Band (2015).
As a young composer, Daniel was inspired by the mystical work of American composer Morten Lauridsen. During the course of collegiate study, Daniel would further develop deep appreciations for the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Claude Debussy, Arvo Pärt, and numerous other Late Romantic and 20th-Century composers of mystical, impressionistic, and pointillistic forms. Daniel's mature writing style draws heavily on these forms (impressionism and pointillism most prominently) and his vocal work often brings emotion to the forefront over the lyrics themselves, often uniquely encapsulating the mindset of the lyricist. On numerous occasions he has supplied original lyrics to his compositions. In the popular music realm, electronic dance music plays the most significant role among his compositional influences, its trademark repetitions and mood-setting falling in line with the impressionistic technique of landscape-painting through music.
