Background
Dan Forrest was born in Elmira, New York and received a Bachelor of Music
Dan Forrest was born in Elmira, New York and received a Bachelor of Music
And an Master of Music in Piano Performance from Bob Jones University and a Doctorate.M.A. in composition from the University of Kansas. He has studied composition with Joan Pinkston, Dwight Gustafson, James Barnes, and Alice Parker.
Foreign the politician with a similar name, see Dan Forest. Forrest"s compositions include choral, instrumental, orchestral, and wind band works. His church music appears in the catalogs of ten publishers, including Hinshaw, Hal Leonard, Beckenhorst, Shawnee Press, and Chorister’s Guild.
His “A Basque Lullaby” for wind band was included in Volume 8 of the Teaching Music Through Performance In Band series.
Forrest"s music has been performed in leading venues including Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, and on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.” A review in The Salt Lake Tribune referred to Forrest"s "superb choral writing" and gave as an example his arrangement of "The First Noel," which it said was "full of spine-tingling moments." Forrest"s Requiem for the Living (2013) received more than a hundred performances world-wide within a year of its composition, including performances in Canada, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and multiple performances at Carnegie Hall. Forrest is an associate editor at Beckenhorst Press, has a choral series in his name with Hinshaw Music, and serves on the editorial board of The Artistic Theologian.
He served as chairman of the department of music theory and composition at Bob Jones University from 2007 to 2012. On February 11, 2007, Forrest"s "Arise, Shine!" was given its world premiere at Carnegie Hall.
On Christmas Day 2008, National Public Radio featured Forrest"s "Carol of Joy" on Performance Today.
In May 2009, Forrest"s "Arise Shine" and "You Are The Music" were performed at Lincoln Center"s Avery Fisher Hall. In November 2014, the "Requiem for the Living" was given its regional premiere by the Voices of the Commonwealth and the Northern Kentucky Youth Sinfonia in Newport, Kentucky.
2004 John Ness Beck Foundation, first place (with noted composer John Rutter taking second place). His winning composition, a choral setting of "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" has sold over 40,000 copies. 2005 American Choral Directors Association Raymond Brock Composition Competition. His winning piece, "Selah", was premiered at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency convention in 2006. 2006 Vanguard Voices Choral Composition Contest, First Prize, Emerging Composers category. His winning piece, "You Are The Music," was premiered in June 2007. 2006 American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Morton Gould Young Composers Award for selected movements from Words From Paradise, an extended work for a cappella choir. He was presented his award at Lincoln Center. 2009 John Ness Beck Foundation, first place. 2009 Raabe Prize, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, for his In Paradisium 2009 Frank Ticheli International Wind Band Composition Contest, Finalist.
