Daniel Kallman's compositions for orchestra, winds, and choir are widely published and
performed across North America, Europe and East Asia. His steady stream of commissions includes music for worship, theater, dance, and the young musician. Kallman has composed for the National Symphony Orchestra, the Air Force Academy Band, the National Lutheran Choir, the Minnesota Orchestra, A Prairie Home Companion, and a wide variety of vocal and instrumental ensembles.
Photo by Tom Roster
Commission and Performance Highlights:
Early American Songs, Set II, for unison or 2-part treble voices, now available! The set, commissioned by 16 youth choirs from around the country, includes three well-known African-American spirituals: Little David, Play on Your Harp; Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child; and Down by the Riverside. Also available separately.
So thankful to the many, many folks of all ages who contributed their time and abilities, not to mention their big hearts, to the Our Children, Our World concert! Photos by Tom Wallace.
Our Children, Our World: Music in Celebration of Nature. On Thursday, June 20, 2019, at the Northfield Middle School, Kallman will be joined by musicians of all ages in this concert dedicated to the celebration of nature with an emphasis on the need to leave a livable planet to our children. Liz Shepley (former Artistic Director of the Northfield Youth Choirs) and drummer Steve Jennings will assist. The concert features two children’s choirs, solo singers and instrumentalists, and a choir of high school singers and alums performing Kallman’s works in a variety of styles from concert pieces to jazz/pop/rock. Sponsored by the Northfield Arts Guild. This activity is made possible through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council in cooperation with a private foundation. Thursday, June 20, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
Northfield Middle School Auditorium, 2200 Division St. S., Northfield, MN
Tickets available at the Guild, 304 Division St. S., by calling 507-645-8877, or online at northfieldartsguild.org.
Recently premiered and now available for use in worship:
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (choral setting of HYFRYDOL with instruments), and a related solo keyboard version entitled Prelude on Hyfrydol. These were the result of a commission in 2017 from my home congregation to honor Rhonda Reece who retired after twenty-two years as Music Minister at Bethel Lutheran Church in Northfield, Minnesota. Thanks, Rhonda! And thanks to all the musicians who helped to put it together! Video of choral setting here (cue to 51:00).
Dan’s work, I Am in Need of Music, for SATB choir, oboe, horn, and strings, was premiered on Sunday, April 22, 2018 by the Fort Dodge Choral Society in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The piece was commissioned in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the organization. The group is conducted by Bruce Perry, who is a former classmate of Dan’s at Luther College.
Special thanks to the 2017-18 SSAA Minnesota All-State Choir, Bret Amundson (conductor), Christine Starr (pianist), and the section coaches for a fine concert on August 6, including the premiere of my commissioned work, Gratus Animus. Looking forward to the February performance in Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis!
Dan wants to thank ensembles in the great state of Minnesota for their support of recent projects and visits: churches in Rochester, Apple Valley and Austin; the St. Olaf Orchestra; high schools in Kenyon-Wanamingo, Cannon Falls, Bloomington, Eagan, and Northfield; 16 of the 32 ensembles in my recent folk song consortium for children's choirs; the 400 honor choir students in the Tonka district who premiered Listen for Me in April 2016; the nine elementary school choirs who formed a mass choir and sang Won't You Sing Along?; the University of Minnesota-Morris Concert Choir who performed Glorificamus Te! on their spring tour.; and the Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs whom I conducted on In Endless Song in May 2016 at Orchestra Hall.
Dan with singers from the Virginia Children's Chorus in Norfolk, Virginia. They performed two all-Kallman concerts in November 2015, including a newly commissioned work, My Help Comes From the Lord.
Dan assembled a consortium of 32 children's choirs to support the creation of three unison folk song settings: Simple Gifts, The Pretty Little Horses, and She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain. They are available separately or as the set Early American Songs, Set I.
Recent premieres of Dan's music include:
Gaia: Desecration, Lamentation and Awakening by the St. Olaf College Orchestra (West Coast tour, October 2015). More info here.
The Promise of Grace (Reminiscence on Two Sacred Harp Hymn Tunes) for the Luther College Concert Band, Decorah, IA, honoring the 50th anniversary of the class of 1965 (October 18, 2015).
Come and Hear the Word That's Whispered, an anthem on a new text by the Rev. Vern Christopherson for the 150th anniversary of Zumbro Lutheran Church in Rochester, MN (October 25, 2015).
All-Kallman concerts by the combined choirs of the Virginia Children's Chorus, Norfolk, VA (November 14 & 15, 2015). More info here.
A Little Jungle Music for wind ensemble was premiered May 21, 2015 by the fine Bloomington Jefferson High School Wind Ensemble, Daniel Fretland conducting, in Bloomington, MN. Swingin' from the vines! The piece will be available soon.
Dan enjoyed visits to New Jersey and Maryland for an all-Kallman choral concert (Concordia Vocal Academy, Belford, NJ) and the premiere of Look to This Day (Frederick Children's Chorus, Frederick, MD).
Martin Luther King/We Shall Overcome is now available. This choral medley begins with Dan's original composition in pop-gospel style and segues into the traditional freedom song We Shall Overcome for a stirring tribute to Dr. King. Appropriate for youth, high school, college and community choirs.
Dan has been fortunate to assemble a consortium of 34 youth choirs, mostly American and ranging from large city programs to elementary schools, who have supported the creation of a new musical setting of Elinor Wylie's lovely poem Velvet Shoes. He completed the setting for unison voices and piano in August of 2014, and most of the choirs will present it on their upcoming winter concerts. See a listing of the choirs on the Velvet Shoes link.
New publications and recordings of Kallman music out Fall of 2014:
For concert band: Galop and An American Tapestry (full wind version) available from Boosey & Hawkes.
Sonata for Trumpet and Piano available from Hickman Editions.
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah in Brad Ellingboe's "Music for the Church Year" series through Kjos Publishing.
For treble voices: Come Make a Home in Henry Leck's "Creating Artistry" series with Hal Leonard publishing.
Behold the All, By Singing, by the National Lutheran Choir, will be included on their upcoming CD release in the fall of 2014.
Dan with Wayzata Symphony Orchestra Artistic Director Marlene Pauley. Dan has collaborated with the Wayzata Symphony Orchestra for the full orchestral version of his work for wind octet and narrator, Sea Creatures. He also has composed a new setting of Jabberwocky for the Minnesota Boychoir (Mark S. Johnson, Artistic Director) and full orchestra for the WSO family concerts (May 4 and May 10, 2014.)
The projects are supported by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board and with funds from the Wayzata Symphony. Daniel Kallman is a fiscal year 2013 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.