Dan Forrest, Jr.

For the politician with a similar name, see Dan Forest.

Dan Forrest
Dan Forrest, 2007
Born	(1978-01-07)January 7, 1978 Elmira, New York
Nationality	American
Education	Bob Jones University, University of Kansas
Occupation	composer
Employer	Beckenhorst Press
Religion	Christian
Website	http://www.danforrest.com/

Daniel Ernest Forrest, Jr. (born January 7, 1978) is a composer, pianist, and music editor.

Biography

Dan Forrest was born in Elmira, New York and received a B.Mus. and an M.Mus. in Piano Performance from Bob Jones University and a D.M.A. in composition from the University of Kansas. He has studied composition with Joan Pinkston, Dwight Gustafson, James Barnes, and Alice Parker.^[1] 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.^[2]

Forrest's choral works have received the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Award, the ACDA Raymond Brock Award, a Meet The Composer grant, and the ALCM Raabe Prize. 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 NPR’s “Performance Today.”^[3] 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." ^[4] 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.^[5]

Forrest is an associate editor at Beckenhorst Press, has a choral series in his name with Hinshaw Music,^[6] and serves on the editorial board of The Artistic Theologian.^[7] He served as chairman of the department of music theory and composition at Bob Jones University from 2007 to 2012.^[8]

Awards

• 2004 John Ness Beck Foundation, first place (with noted composer John Rutter taking second place).^[9] His winning composition, a choral setting of "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" has sold over 40,000 copies.^[10]
• 2005 American Choral Directors Association Raymond Brock Composition Competition. His winning piece, "Selah", was premiered at the ACDA convention in 2006.^[11]
• 2006 Vanguard Voices Choral Composition Contest, First Prize, Emerging Composers category. His winning piece, "You Are The Music," was premiered in June 2007.^[10]
• 2006 ASCAP 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.^[10]
• 2009 John Ness Beck Foundation, first place.^[12]
• 2009 Raabe Prize, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, for his In Paradisium^[13]
• 2009 Frank Ticheli International Wind Band Composition Contest, Finalist.^[14]

Notable Performances

• On February 11, 2007, Forrest's "Arise, Shine!" was given its world premiere at Carnegie Hall.^[15]
• On Christmas Day 2008, National Public Radio featured Forrest's "Carol of Joy" on Performance Today.^[16]
• In May 2009, Forrest's "Arise Shine" and "You Are The Music" were performed at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.^[17]
• 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.^[18]

References