Born: 1944, Brooklyn, New York
Education: Doc. Mus. Arts -The Juilliard School, 1971
Mentors: V. Rieti, P. Creston, H. Weisgall, R. Sessions, V. Persichetti, Henry Brant
Stephen Dankner received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Composition from the Juilliard School in 1971. A list of works since 1990 includes eight symphonies, twenty string quartets (Quartets 3-10 premiered by the Amernet String Quartet), a saxophone quartet (commissioned by the Mana Saxophone Quartet), six concerti (one each for piano and violin, two for cello, an E flat clarinet Concerto commissioned by Louisiana Philharmonic E flat clarinetist Stephanie Thompson, and a Concerto for alto saxophonist Lawrence Gwozdz; a Symphony for Saxophone Chamber Orchestra; four major song cycles; sonatas for violin (3), piano, alto saxophone, viola, cello; four piano trios; a piano quartet, piano quintet, saxophone quintet (saxophone quartet with piano) and five orchestral tone poems. Dankner was the composer-in-residence with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra from 2004-2007.
The National Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Nürnberg Symphoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra and Berkshire Symphony have given premieres of commissioned and other works. The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra has given premiere performances of seven of his eight symphonies during the period 1998-2012.
The composer has twice been a recipient of a State of Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship in Music Composition (1986, 1998) and the State of Louisiana Division of the Arts Mini-Grants (4 - 1998-2004). Winner, William Lincer International Composition Award for Piano Quartet (2001). Fellowship residencies at Yaddo, Virginia Center for Creative Arts (11), A Studio In The Woods and The Millay Colony. Dankner was a recipient of a Surdna Arts Teacher's Fellowship to compose his Eighth Symphony (2004-'05).
The composer also is an experimental digital visual artist and has had several juried exhibitions of his gicleé prints in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts.
Stephen Dankner resides in Williamstown, Massachusetts.