Daniel Dorff

Daniel Dorff (March 7, 1956) is an American composer.

Biography and career

Dorff 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 The Haddonfield Symphony) in Camden, New Jersey (USA). 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, Mimi Stillman, 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 clarinetist 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.

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
• Cape May Breezes for wind quintet
• 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 (or bass clarinet)
• It Takes Four to Tango, sax quartet or clarinet quartet (or many other instrumentations)
• The Kiss, orchestra, after a painting by Gustav Klimt
• 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 (Three Lakes) for flute and piano
• 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
• The Flowers of St. Francis for solo bass clarinet
• 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

External links

• Daniel Dorff's website
• Daniel Dorff's page at Theodore Presser Company