Daniel Strong Godfrey
b. 1949
American
Summary
composition from Yale University, and a Ph.D. from the University of
Iowa. He is Composer-in-Residence at Syracuse University’s Setnor School
of Music and has also held visiting faculty appointments at the
Eastman School of Music, the Indiana University School of Music, and the
University of Pittsburgh.
Godfrey has earned awards and commissions from the J. S. Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm
Music Foundation at Harvard University, the Koussevitzky Music
Foundation at the Library of Congress, the Rockefeller Foundation
(Bellagio Center), the Bogliasco Foundation (Liguria Study Cen-ter), the
Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, the Indiana State
University/Louisville Orchestra Competition, the National Repertory
Orchestra/US West Foundation Competition (First Prize), the Maine Arts
Commission, the New York Foundation for the Arts (Met Life Fellowship)
and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, among others. He is founder
and co-director of the Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music (on
the Maine coast) and is co-author of Music Since 1945, published by
Schirmer Books.
Godfrey’s works are recorded on Albany, CRI, GM, Innova, Klavier, Koch,
UK Light and Mark compact disks.
Biography
Daniel S. Godfrey (b. 1949) received B.A. and M.M. degrees in
composition from Yale University, and a Ph.D. from the University of
Iowa. He is Composer-in-Residence at Syracuse University’s Setnor School
of Music and has also held visiting faculty appoint-ments at the
Eastman School of Music, the Indiana University School of Music, and the
University of Pittsburgh.
Godfrey has earned awards and commissions from the J. S. Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm
Music Foundation at Harvard University, the Koussevitzky Music
Foundation at the Library of Congress, the Rockefeller Foundation
(Bellagio Center), the Bogliasco Foundation (Liguria Study Cen-ter), the
Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, the Indiana State
Univer-sity/Louisville Orchestra Competition, the National Repertory
Orchestra/US West Foun-dation Competition (First Prize), the Maine Arts
Commission, the New York Foundation for the Arts (Met Life Fellowship)
and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, among oth-ers. He is founder
and co-director of the Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music (on
the Maine coast) and is co-author of Music Since 1945, published by
Schirmer Books.
Godfrey’s works are recorded on Albany, CRI, GM, Innova, Klavier, Koch,
UK Light and Mark compact disks. The New Yorker listed Koch
International Classic’s release of God-frey’s String Quartets as one of
2004’s ten best classical CDs. In June 2007, Koch re-leased another
all-Godfrey CD, this one with seven chamber works featuring principal
players of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Godfrey’s music is
available through pub-lishers Carl Fischer and G. Schirmer.
"Filters the lyrical spirit of Borodin and early Stravinsky through an
elegantly patrician modern style.”
— The New Yorker
"A rare wedding of flawless craft and flowing lyricism.”
— Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise
"The refined use of colour and variegated texture in Godfrey's work
frequently bring Debussy and Ravel to mind (and sometimes Janacek and
Sibelius), but whatever the apparent influences are, they have all been
absorbed into a distinctive musical language that's as remarkable for
its consistency as for its craftsmanship.”
— Gramophone Magazine
"If Debussy and Ravel had lived in the late 20th Century, they would
have produced string quartets which sound like Godfrey’s.”
— Records International
"Godfrey hears the ensemble as a single (if complex) instrumental
voice…that speaks in blended, liquid, seamless legato stanzas built of
subtle, delicately nuanced vertical sonorities.”
— American Record Guide
"Godfrey displays a love of melodic phrase that reminds [one] of Barber, or even Gershwin."
— Fanfare Magazine
"Motions into tonality not so much like flirting but more like true love."
— Village Voice
composition from Yale University, and a Ph.D. from the University of
Iowa. He is Composer-in-Residence at Syracuse University’s Setnor School
of Music and has also held visiting faculty appoint-ments at the
Eastman School of Music, the Indiana University School of Music, and the
University of Pittsburgh.
Godfrey has earned awards and commissions from the J. S. Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm
Music Foundation at Harvard University, the Koussevitzky Music
Foundation at the Library of Congress, the Rockefeller Foundation
(Bellagio Center), the Bogliasco Foundation (Liguria Study Cen-ter), the
Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, the Indiana State
Univer-sity/Louisville Orchestra Competition, the National Repertory
Orchestra/US West Foun-dation Competition (First Prize), the Maine Arts
Commission, the New York Foundation for the Arts (Met Life Fellowship)
and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, among oth-ers. He is founder
and co-director of the Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music (on
the Maine coast) and is co-author of Music Since 1945, published by
Schirmer Books.
Godfrey’s works are recorded on Albany, CRI, GM, Innova, Klavier, Koch,
UK Light and Mark compact disks. The New Yorker listed Koch
International Classic’s release of God-frey’s String Quartets as one of
2004’s ten best classical CDs. In June 2007, Koch re-leased another
all-Godfrey CD, this one with seven chamber works featuring principal
players of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Godfrey’s music is
available through pub-lishers Carl Fischer and G. Schirmer.
"Filters the lyrical spirit of Borodin and early Stravinsky through an
elegantly patrician modern style.”
— The New Yorker
"A rare wedding of flawless craft and flowing lyricism.”
— Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise
"The refined use of colour and variegated texture in Godfrey's work
frequently bring Debussy and Ravel to mind (and sometimes Janacek and
Sibelius), but whatever the apparent influences are, they have all been
absorbed into a distinctive musical language that's as remarkable for
its consistency as for its craftsmanship.”
— Gramophone Magazine
"If Debussy and Ravel had lived in the late 20th Century, they would
have produced string quartets which sound like Godfrey’s.”
— Records International
"Godfrey hears the ensemble as a single (if complex) instrumental
voice…that speaks in blended, liquid, seamless legato stanzas built of
subtle, delicately nuanced vertical sonorities.”
— American Record Guide
"Godfrey displays a love of melodic phrase that reminds [one] of Barber, or even Gershwin."
— Fanfare Magazine
"Motions into tonality not so much like flirting but more like true love."
— Village Voice