Dan Forrest | |
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 Forrest in 2016 | |
| Born | January 7, 1978 Breesport, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Bob Jones University, University of Kansas |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, Pianist, Educator |
| Employer(s) | Freelance Composer, Beckenhorst Press |
| Known for | Choral/Orchestral Composer |
| Website | http://www.danforrest.com/ |
Daniel Ernest Forrest Jr. (born January 7, 1978) is an American composer, pianist, educator, and music editor.
Dan Forrest was born in Breesport, New York, and began piano lessons with his elementary school music teacher at age 8. In high school Forrest 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, studying advanced theory and composition with Joan Pinkston and Dwight Gustafson. After teaching piano in South Carolina for 3 years, he moved to Kansas where he earned a D.M.A. in composition from the University of Kansas, studying with wind band composer James Barnes. Forrest also studied with Alice Parker, whom he counts as a foremost influence. [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), but also Choristers Guild. In 2018, he began self-publishing his own concert music 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] Forrest's music has been performed in leading venues around the world including Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, NPR's Performance Today, and on the BBC Proms. [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] Forrest 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] Perhaps Forrest's best known work is Requiem for the Living (2013), [11] having received several hundred performances worldwide. His other major works, Jubilate Deo (2016) and LUX: The Dawn From On High (2018) have also been 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 United States and abroad. He also serves as Artist-in-Residence at Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church (PCA), Greenville, SC. [14]
Forrest is equally at home in both concert music and church music, 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 studying 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]
Forrest is married and has three children. He is a Christian and views his musical work as an outgrowth of his faith. [35]
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