1.2 - Dana Wilson

Composer Chats

Join Jason Nitsch as he welcomes composer Dana Wilson to the podcast!

The works of Dana Wilson have been commissioned and performed by such diverse ensembles as the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Formosa Quartet, Xaimen Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Memphis Symphony, Dallas Wind Symphony, Voices of Change, Netherlands Wind Ensemble, Syracuse Symphony, Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, the trio STRATA, and Canadian Brass. Many college ensembles and faculty members have performed and recorded his music.

Solo works have been written for such renowned artists as hornists Gail Williams (international soloist, formerly with the Chicago Symphony) and Adam Unsworth (international soloist, formerly with the Philadelphia Orchestra); clarinetist Larry Combs (international soloist, formerly with the Chicago Symphony); trumpeters James Thompson (formerly with the Atlanta Symphony), Rex Richardson (international jazz soloist), and Frank Campos; oboists David Weiss (international soloist, formerly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic) and Michael Henoch (principal with the Chicago Symphony); saxophonist Steven Mauk; bassoonists Michael Krroth and Kristin Schillinger; flutists Wendy Mehne, Alison Parramore, and Kate Steinbeck; violinists James Stern and Susan Waterbury; trombonist Thomas Ashworth; tubist Aaron Tindall; soprano Rachel Schutz; cellist Deborah Pae; jazz pianist Nicholas Weiser, drum set player Greg Evans; and contrabassist Nicholas Walker.

He has received grants from, among others, the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, Arts Midwest, and Meet the Composer. His compositions have been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and East Asia. They have received several prizes, including the Sudler International Composition Prize and the Ostwald Composition Prize, as well as awards from the International Trumpet Guild, the Flute New Music Consortium, and the International Horn Society; are published by Boosey and Hawkes, Alfred Music Publishers, the American Composers Forum, and Ludwig Music Publishers; and can be heard on over twenty recording labels, as well as on national radio broadcasts such as "Performance Today".

Dana Wilson holds a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music and is Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus at the Ithaca College School of Music. He is co-author of Contemporary Choral Arranging, published by Prentice Hall/Simon and Schuster, and has written articles on diverse musical subjects. He has been a Yaddo Fellow (at Yaddo, the artists’ retreat in Saratoga Springs, New York), a Wye Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a Charles A. Dana Fellow, and a Fellow at the Society for Humanities, Cornell University.