Daniel Dorff

Biography

Daniel Dorff (born March 7, 1956) is an American classical musician and classical composer.

Biography and career

Dorff was born in New Rochelle, New York, and grew up in Flower Hill, New York, graduating from Roslyn High School.
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 served from 1996 through 2015 as 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 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, Jasmine Choi, Denis Bouriakov, and frequent collaborator Cindy Anne Broz. 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 such as contrabassoon, bass clarinet, and tenor saxophone – the best-known of which is In A Deep Funk, a dance suite for unaccompanied contrabassoon or bass clarinet. 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.

Narrated works for young audiences

Dorff 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.

A Treeful of Monkeys for narrator and orchestra (or mixed quintet)
Billy and the Carnival – A Children's Guide to Musical Instruments for narrator and orchestra
Blast Off! for narrator and orchestra
Goldilocks and the Three Bears for narrator and orchestra (or mixed octet)
Old MacDonald Had an Orchestra for narrator and mixed quintet
Take The Orchestra Out to the Ballgame for narrator and orchestra (or mixed quintet)
The Adventures of Mary's Little Lamb for narrator and mixed quintet
The Bear Went Under the Mountain for narrator mixed quintet
The Three Little Pigs for narrator, violin, and cello
The Tortoise and the Hare for narrator and orchestra (or mixed octet)
Three Fun Fables for narrator and orchestra (or mixed octet)

Selected chamber music

Some chamber pieces composed by Dorff include:

9 Walks Down 7th Avenue for flute and piano
Allegro Volante for xylophone and piano
Andante con Variazioni for flute and clarinet
April Whirlwind for flute and piano
August Idyll for solo flute
Ballade for alto flute, flugelhorn (or bass flute), and piano
BFF's for E♭ clarinet and B♭ clarinet
Big Sky for flute, viola, and harp
Blue Jacaranda for two flutes and piano
Cape May Breezes for wind quintet
Cosmic Menagerie for two bass clarinets
Dance Music for Mr. Mouse for E♭ clarinet and piano
Dark Romance for clarinet quartet
Deep Funk, Part 2, Dance Sonata for solo viola
Desert Dusk for alto flute and cello
Fanfare and Hustle for brass quintet
Fantasy, Scherzo and Nocturne for saxophone quartet
Fast Walk for saxophone quartet or clarinet quartet or bassoon quartet
Fireworks for flute orchestra
Flash! for piccolo and piano
Flowers of St. Francis, five scenes for solo bass clarinet
Folk Song Suite for two flutes
For Elise for flute and piano
Hot Spots for B♭ Clarinet and English Horn
In a Deep Funk dance set for solo contrabassoon (or bass clarinet)
Invention after BWV 1013 for two flutes
Invention on Mozart's 11-tone Surprise for flute and clarinet
It Takes Four to Tango for sax quartet or clarinet quartet (or many other instrumentations)
Midsummer Daydream for flute, viola, and harp
Nocturnes for the Nativity for solo flute
Pastorale (Souvenirs du Frög) for clarinet and piano
Perennials for flute, clarinet, and piano
Perfect Storm for piccolo, flute, and piano
Romanza on a theme of Rochberg for solo piano
Serenade for Flute and Harp
Serenade to Eve, After Rodin for flute and guitar
Seven Daydreams on Can't Find My Way Home for solo bass clarinet
Shadows for solo timpani
Snow Angel for flute and piano
Slippery Slopes for mixed clarinet sextet or ensemble
Sonata (Spirit of the Hudson) for bass flute and piano
Sonata (Three Lakes) for flute and piano
Sonatina d'Amore for two contrabassoons or two bass clarinets
Sonatine de Giverny for piccolo and piano
Songs of the Open Road (Five Inspirations from Walt Whitman) for solo flute
Spark for solo viola
Swans for 2 alto flutes and piano
The Day Things Went Wrong at the Pet Store – 11 Cartoons for Piano
Three Dance Etudes for marimba duo or ensemble
The Seven Chakras for tenor saxophone and piano
The Three Little Pigs for narrator, violin, and cello
Three Romances for flute and clarinet
The Year of the Rabbit for flute quartet or ensemble
Through a Misty Arch for flute ensemble
Trees (after the poem by Joyce Kilmer) for solo flute with narration
Tweet for solo piccolo
The Seven Chakras for tenor saxophone and piano
Two Cats for flute and clarinet
Woodland Reverie for solo flute or solo bass clarinet
Zoe & Xena for piccolo and bass clarinet

Selected orchestral music

Some orchestral pieces composed by Dorff include:

A Treeful of Monkeys for narrator with orchestra or mixed quintet
Allegro Volante for xylophone and orchestra (or band)
Billy and the Carnival: A Children's Guide to Musical Instruments for narrator and orchestra
Blast Off! for narrator and orchestra
Concertino for flute and orchestra (or piano)
Concerto for Contrabassoon with clarinet, horn, and strings
Concerto No. 2 for clarinet and orchestra
Flash! for piccolo and orchestra
Goldilocks and the Three Bears for narrator with orchestra or mixed octet
Pachelbel's Christmas (A Merry Melange) for orchestra
Philly Rhapsody for orchestra
Stone Soup: An Operatic Fable in One Act, an opera for young audiences with soloists, mixed choir, and accompaniment
Summer Solstice Concerto for clarinet and string orchestra
Take the Orchestra Out to the Ballgame for narrator and orchestra
The Kiss (after a painting by Gustav Klimt) for orchestra
Three Fun Fables for narrator and orchestra or mixed octet
The Tortoise and the Hare for narrator and orchestra or mixed octet
Symphony of Delusions