Biography
Dan Locklair, an American composer, earns particular acclaim for his sacred choral compositions, which resonate on stages worldwide. His catalog also includes an opera, a ballet, orchestral scores, chamber pieces, and organ works, the instrument that marked the start of his professional path.
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1949, Locklair secured professional organ engagements by age fourteen. He first studied at Mars Hill College, now a university, in North Carolina, then earned a Master of Sacred Music degree at Union Theological Seminary in New York before completing a doctorate at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
From 1973 to 1982 he taught at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, and served as a Presbyterian church musician in Binghamton. In 1982 he joined Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as professor and composer-in-residence, positions he has held continuously since. He has maintained an active recital career on the organ, appearing at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Thomas Church, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, all in New York.
His Since Dawn, scored for narrator, chorus, and orchestra on a text by Maya Angelou, was commissioned for the 1993 inauguration of U.S. president Bill Clinton. A movement from Rubrics, among his best-known organ scores, was heard at the 2004 funeral of President Ronald Reagan.
Major ensembles across the United States and abroad have programmed his music, among them the Helsinki Philharmonic, the BBC Singers, and the Elmer Iseler Singers of Toronto. His works have reached listeners in Japan, Korea, Russia, and many additional countries; he was the first American composer invited to the Czech Festival of Choral Arts, an event he has visited repeatedly.
His honors include the American Guild of Organists Composer of the Year award in 1996, a Friedheim Award from New York’s Kennedy Center, and multiple ASCAP distinctions. Recordings of his music have appeared on Koch International, Ondine, and Naxos; the latter label released a 2019 performance of his Symphony No. 2 (“America”) by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra under Kirk Trevor.
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1949, Locklair secured professional organ engagements by age fourteen. He first studied at Mars Hill College, now a university, in North Carolina, then earned a Master of Sacred Music degree at Union Theological Seminary in New York before completing a doctorate at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
From 1973 to 1982 he taught at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, and served as a Presbyterian church musician in Binghamton. In 1982 he joined Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as professor and composer-in-residence, positions he has held continuously since. He has maintained an active recital career on the organ, appearing at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Thomas Church, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, all in New York.
His Since Dawn, scored for narrator, chorus, and orchestra on a text by Maya Angelou, was commissioned for the 1993 inauguration of U.S. president Bill Clinton. A movement from Rubrics, among his best-known organ scores, was heard at the 2004 funeral of President Ronald Reagan.
Major ensembles across the United States and abroad have programmed his music, among them the Helsinki Philharmonic, the BBC Singers, and the Elmer Iseler Singers of Toronto. His works have reached listeners in Japan, Korea, Russia, and many additional countries; he was the first American composer invited to the Czech Festival of Choral Arts, an event he has visited repeatedly.
His honors include the American Guild of Organists Composer of the Year award in 1996, a Friedheim Award from New York’s Kennedy Center, and multiple ASCAP distinctions. Recordings of his music have appeared on Koch International, Ondine, and Naxos; the latter label released a 2019 performance of his Symphony No. 2 (“America”) by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra under Kirk Trevor.