Daniel Dorff’s music for flute and piccolo has entered the standard repertoire and is frequently performed and recorded worldwide. He has composed 7 commissioned works for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s education department, and the Minnesota Orchestra’s Kinder Konzert series has performed his music over 200 times. During the Spring 2017 season, Dorff’s music will appear on family concerts presented by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony. Recent highlights have included all-Dorff retrospective concerts at woodwind conventions, 11 performances of Three Fun Fables by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Utah Symphony, 38 performances of Goldilocks and the Three Bears on the Minnesota Orchestra’s Kinder Konzerts, and 10 all-Dorff concerts performed by the National Youth Orchestra of Uruguay.
Dorff’s works have also been presented by Young Audiences (over 1000 performances), the Atlanta Opera (60 performances), Baltimore Symphony (32 performances), Pittsburgh Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, 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 piccolo legends Walfrid Kujala and Sarah Jackson, the Colorado Symphony’s Up Close and Musical series, Sacramento Symphony, Young Audiences, American Composers Forum, Ithaca College School of Music, Symphony in C, and other organizations. Dorff has also created arrangements for Sir James Galway and pop musicians Keith Emerson and Lisa Loeb.
Recent and upcoming premieres include:
– Folk Song Suite for Two Flutes, premiered by Ruth Washington Mayhew and Cindy Anne Broz in Temecula CA, February 2017
– Musetta Steps Out for Mixed Flute Quartet, premiered by Flûtes de Salon in Temecula CA, February 2017
– Desert Dusk for Alto Flute and Cello, commissioned by Mélomanie, premiered May 2017
– Shadows for solo Timpani, commissioned by West Chester University for timpanist Ralph Sorrentino
– For Elise for Flute and Piano, commissioned by Cindy Anne Broz for her forthcoming CD on Albany Records
– Sonata No. 1 (Spirit of the Hudson) for Bass Flute and Piano, commissioned by Peter Sheridan
– Snow Angel for Flute and Piano, commissioned by Ray-Michael Kauffman
– Sun Spots for English Horn and Clarinet, commissioned by Duo Del Sol (Henry Grabb and Karen Dannessa)
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Daniel Dorff was born in New Rochelle, NY; acclaim came at age 18 with First Prize in the Aspen Music Festival’s annual composers’ competition for his Fantasy, Scherzo and Nocturne for saxophone quartet. Dorff later 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, and bass clarinet with Ronald Reuben. Dorff served from 1996 through 2015 as Composer-In-Residence for Symphony in C, in which he played bass clarinet from 1980 through 2002.
Daniel Dorff is VP of Publishing for Theodore Presser Company; a sought-after expert on music engraving and notation, he has lectured at many colleges as well as Carnegie Hall, and advises the leading notation software companies. He serves on the Boards of Directors for the Music Publishers’ Association of the USA, Charles Ives Society, Vincent Persichetti Society, Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia, 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, and Kendor Music, and recorded on Albany, Bridge, Crystal, Azica, and many other labels.
