Dan Locklair

Biography

Dan Locklair (born 1949) is an American composer. He holds the position of Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music, Emeritus, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His output includes symphonic works, a ballet, an opera and numerous solo, vocal and choral compositions. He is often noted for his sacred music, but has also composed many secular works.

Early life

Locklair was born on August 7, 1949 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Locklair was a professional organist by age 14.

Personal

Locklair is a lifelong pipe smoker and noted collector of pipes. He is also an avid swimmer.

Education

Locklair is a graduate of Mars Hill University. He has a Master of Sacred Music degree from the School of Sacred Music of Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music.

Career

Locklair is a composer, organist, conductor, and Professor of Music. He has been based at Wake Forest University as Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music since 1982. Prior to Wake Forest, Locklair was Organist/Choirmaster at First Presbyterian Church in Binghamton, NY and Instructor of Music at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York.
His works are performed in the United States and throughout the world, including in England,
Canada, Germany, France, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Korea, Japan, South Africa,
Finland and Russia.
"Locklair's music has been premiered and/or performed by such ensembles as the Helsinki
(Finland) and Buffalo Philharmonics, the Saint Louis, North Carolina, Kansas City, Omaha,
Winston-Salem, Western Piedmont and Salisbury (NC) Symphonies, The Louisville Orchestra,
the Gregg Smith Singers, the BBC Singers, the Choir of Royal Holloway (UK), the St. Thomas
Choir of Men and Boys (NY City), the Cathedral Choral Society (Washington, DC), the
Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Elmer Iseler Singers of Toronto, the Chicago Ensemble
and The Oxford Players (UK), as well as by harpsichordists Igor Kipnis and Jukka Tiensuu, and
numerous organists, including Marilyn Keiser, John Scott and Thomas Trotter."
Quentin Faulkner, Associate of the American Guild of Organists, has described Locklair's musical style as "eclectic, rejecting dogmatic adherence to stylistic purity, and cultivating engaging melodic gestures, piquant colors, and striking sonorities" His style has been influenced by Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, and Benjamin Britten.
He first came to US national attention when his piece Constellations: A Concerto for Organ and One Percussion Player (1980) was chosen as
one of the finalists for the 1981 Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards.
One of Locklair's pieces, The Peace may be exchanged (from Rubrics), was performed at the funeral service for former President Ronald Reagan at the Washington National Cathedral. It has also been performed at the funerals of President George H.W. Bush and US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. It was also performed as a part of the ceremonies surrounding President Barack Obama's Inauguration weekend.
As a professor at Wake Forest University, Locklair has taught Composition and Orchestration, as well as Introduction to Western Music and Music Theory.

Selected compositions

Source:

Symphony of Seasons - Symphony No. 1
Memorial Day (Concert Band Version) from Symphony No. 2 "America"
Symphony No. 2 "America"
Requiem - SATB Chorus (divisi), Soloists (SATB), Organ and String Orchestra
Gloria - SATB, divisi, brass octet and percussion
Rubrics - A Liturgical Suite for Organ
Brief Mass - SATB (divisi), a cappella
Since Dawn - Tone Poem based on Maya Angelou's "On the Pulse of Morning" for Narrator, Chorus and Orchestra
When Morning Stars Begin to Fall - Tone Poem for Orchestra
Concerto for Organ and Orchestra
Windows of Comfort - (Organbooks I and II) for solo organ
The Breakers Pound - A Dance Suite for Harpsichord
Concerto for Harp and Orchestra
Sonata for Flute and Harp
Sonata for Piano
Phoenix Processional preceded by Fanfare: A commencement piece used at The Juilliard School of music.
Phoenix and Again (1984): An overture for orchestra, commissioned by Wake Forest University for its sesquicentennial, premiered 1984 by the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra.