Biography – Dan Locklair

The music of Dan Locklair (b. 1949) is widely performed throughout the U.S., Canada and the world, including performances in England, Germany, France, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Korea, Japan, South Africa, Finland and Russia. His prolific output includes symphonic works, a ballet, an opera and numerous solo, chamber, vocal and choral compositions.

Locklair’s music has been premiered and/or performed by such ensembles as the Helsinki (Finland) and Buffalo Philharmonics, the Saint Louis, North Carolina, Kansas City, Omaha, Winston-Salem, Western Piedmont and Salisbury (NC) Symphonies, The Louisville Orchestra, the Gregg Smith Singers, the BBC Singers, the Choir of Royal Holloway (UK), the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys (NY City), the Cathedral Choral Society (Washington, DC), the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Elmer Iseler Singers of Toronto, the Chicago Ensemble and The Oxford Players (UK), as well as by harpsichordists Igor Kipnis and Jukka Tiensuu, and numerous organists, including Marilyn Keiser, John Scott and Thomas Trotter.

His commissions have included works for Arizona MusicFest, the Knoxville Symphony, the North Carolina Dance Theatre, the Binghamton Symphony, two American Guild of Organists’ National Conventions, the Association of Anglican Musicians, ChoralArt (Portland, Maine), the Virginia Chorale and Symphony (Resident Composer, Virginia Festival of American Voices), Casavant Frères (for this important organ builder’s 125th Anniversary), the Harvard Glee Club, an IBM commission for the Binghamton Youth Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, the Mallarmé Chamber Players, the Bel Canto Company and a Barlow Endowment Commission.

In addition to performances of his music in such halls as New York’s Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, Disney Hall in Los Angeles and Washington’s Kennedy Center and National Gallery of Art, Locklair’s works have been programmed on major festivals throughout the world, including the Aspen Music Festival, Spoleto U.S.A., the Chautauqua Festival, Interlochen, the Brevard Music Center (twice as Composer-in-Residence), Southern Cathedrals Festival (England), Warsaw Autumn (Poland), Vendsyssel Festival (Denmark), the Bergen Festival (Norway) and the Internationale Orgelwoche Nürnberg Musica Sacra festival (Germany). In 1992, Dr. Locklair became the first American composer ever to be invited to and have music performed at the thirty-five year old Czech Festival of Choral Arts in Jihlava, Czech Republic and, again at the invitation of the Czech government, was invited to return to be a part of this Festival during 1997. Broadcasts of his music have been heard world-wide over Voice of America, Vatican Radio, Finnish Radio, the BBC, Czech Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, With Heart and Voice and American Public Media’s Performance Today, St. Paul Sunday and Pipedreams.

Dr. Locklair’s many awards have included the 2025 American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award, consecutive ASCAP Awards since 1981, a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, an Aliénor Award, the New Music Award from the Omaha Symphony Society, two North Carolina Composer Fellowship Awards and a top Barlow International Competition Award. Dr. Locklair became the first American composer ever to be invited to and have music performed at the Czech Festival of Choral Arts in Jihlava, Czech Republic. In its Centennial Year, Dr. Locklair was named AGO Composer of the Year by the American Guild of Organists (a distinguished honor now known as the AGO Distinguished Composer Award).

Dan Locklair’s music is commercially available on the Naxos, Convivium, Koch, Ondine, Albany, MSR, Acis, Gasparo, Capstone, Priory, Regent, Arsis, Titanic, Raven, Pro Organo, Gothic, Loft, ACA Digital, Pro Arte Fanfare, Orion and Opus One labels. His primary publishers are Subito Music Publishing and Ricordi [Boosey & Hawkes and Hal Leonard, U.S. agents].

Dan Locklair is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina (USA). He holds a Master of Sacred Music degree from the School of Sacred Music of Union Theological Seminary in New York City and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. His former teachers have included Joseph Goodman, Ezra Laderman, Samuel Adler and Joseph Schwantner (composition), as well as Donna Robertson, Robert Baker and David Craighead (organ). Dr. Locklair is Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music Emeritus at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.