Daniel Asia

Biography

Daniel Asia (born June 27, 1953) is an American composer. He was born in Seattle, Washington, in the United States of America.

Biography

He received a B.A. degree from Hampshire College and a M.M. from the Yale School of Music. His major teachers include Jacob Druckman, Stephen Albert, Gunther Schuller, and Isang Yun in composition, and Arthur Weisberg in conducting. Asia's works ranges from solo pieces to large-scale multi-movement works for orchestra, including five symphonies.
He served on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as Assistant Professor of Contemporary Music and Wind Ensemble from 1981 to 1986. In 1986–88, a UK Fulbright Arts Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship enabled him to work in London as a visiting lecturer at City University. Since 1988, he has been Professor of Composition and head of the composition department at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He conducts the New York-based contemporary chamber ensemble The Musical Elements, which he co-founded in 1977. Asia founded and directs the American Culture and Ideas Initiative.
As a blogger, Asia contributes articles on music and culture to The Huffington Post. In 2013, he gained notoriety after receiving international responses for an April 25 article entitled "Carter is Dead."

Huffington Post

2012 - "Breath in a Ram's Horn: Why Classical Music is Like Jewish Prayer"
2013 - "An Open Letter to a New University President"
2013 - "The Put On of the Century"
2013 - "Final Response on The Put On of the Century"
2013 - "Carter is Dead"
2013 - "A Short Musing on Schuller's Musings"
2013 - "A London Sojourn"
2014 - "Butterfly, Bach, and Breasts in the Windy City, Part 1"
2014 - "The Case for Barber and Britten"
2014 - "In the Windy City Part 2"
2014 - "The Last of the Midwest for Now"
2014 - "Betsey Johnson in Tucson"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: Ligeti"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: Steve Reich"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: Glass"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: Takemitsu"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: Brown and Feldman"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: Beaser"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: John Adams"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: Frederic Rzewski"
2014 - "Tale of Two Concertos"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: John Corigliano and David Del Tredici"
2014 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: Robert Dick"
2014 - "Tito Munoz and the Phoenix Symphony"
2014 - "Music in the Southwest Part 2: The Tucson Symphony Orchestra"
2015 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: Lerdal String Quartets 1-3"
2015 - "Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph by Jan Swafford"
2015 - "Music I (Mostly) Hold Dear: George Rochberg"
2015 - "Concertos of Jaffe, Tower, Albert, and Rouse"