News & Events
ODE TO A WOMBAT
Soprano Liz Pearse will be performing my “Ode to a Wombat” as part of a concert of “animal songs” taking place February 16, 3 PM, at Cappella Performing Arts Center in La Crosse, WI. The concert will raise funds for Coulee Region Humane Society.
SONGS OF COWBOYS AND HOBOS
My pals in the dream songs project will perform my “Songs of Cowboys and Hobos” in a concert happening at 2:30 PM, February 23, at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in Saint Paul, MN.
HOW TO TELL A WOLF FROM A DOG
In 2024, I was commissioned to compose another song based upon a text by Duluth poet Louis Jenkins. “How to Tell a Wolf from a Dog” was commissioned by Barbara Brown and John Michel for baritone Ryan Wolfe on the occasion of his wedding. Premiering in 2025.
uncle harvey’s Mausoleum
Working on my first work for full orchestra… coming (relatively) soon.
On the horizon…
… this website! Stay tuned.
"Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise.
When we ignore it, it disturbs us.
When we listen to it, we find it fascinating.”
JOHN CAGE
Biography
The music of Daniel Nass has been reviewed as “playful,” “eerie,” and “witty.” Much of his music is influenced, both consciously and subconsciously, by popular musics of the past half-century. Thanks to older siblings, his childhood was dominated by the rock music of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, which led to teenage years spent performing in various loud garage bands. Quatre Études de Fromage, a recent set of his piano pieces, was heavily inspired by the music from “Sailing the Seas of Cheese,” an album by progressive rock-trio, Primus. For his doctoral dissertation, he composed Scattered Needles–a large-scale work for tenor and chamber orchestra in which he set lyrics composed by original Pink Floyd singer/songwriter, Syd Barrett.
Nass has received various awards and recognitions, including prizes in the ISU Carillon Composition Competition, the UMKC Chamber Music Composition Competition, the Minneapolis SongSLAM Competition, and was one of three composers awarded a commission to write a new choral work for the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus. Other recent commissions include Animal Songs (Schubert Club), Música Para El Pez Vela (Unheard-of), One-Dog Canoe (FRIENDS of the Minnesota Orchestra), Katla the Hag and Her Magic Britches and Shadows of Shadow Passing (Zeitgeist). His works are distributed through his self-publishing company, Daniel Nass Music, and professional recordings are available on the Innova, Crescent Phase, and Avid Sound Records labels.
Nass is particularly passionate about forging successful musical collaborations with artists in the area of mixed media. In dance, he has worked with choreographer David DeBlieck and the Wicked Sister Dance Theatre to produce “Eternal”–a work for dance ensemble and electroacoustic music, using sounds recorded at the Quarry Park and Nature Preserve in central Minnesota as source material. In film, he has collaborated with multimedia artist Samantha Krukowski to produce the short video “Salt and Glue,” which has been aired in prestigious festivals and galleries across the United States and Asia. In the world of theater, he has worked with the Augsburg College Theater Department, composing incidental music for their productions of “Marat/Sade,” “The Crucible,” and “The Taming of the Shrew.” In 2019, he served as music director for “Swede Hollow Ghost Sonata”–a Knight Foundation-funded collaboration between Sod House Theater and Black Label Movement. In 2022, in collaboration with Nautilus Music-Theater, he composed “Moonlit Walk Home”–a 65-minute chamber opera based upon the writings of Fern Green Baldwin.
A native of Howard Lake, Minnesota, Nass holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Theory and Composition from Saint Olaf College, a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin. Past teachers include Kevin Puts, Donald Grantham, James Mobberley, Chen Yi, and Peter Hamlin. He currently lives in Lowertown St. Paul and serves as a Senior Producer at YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio.
Artist Statement
As a composer, I am particularly fascinated by the connection between music and storytelling. I am interested in writing music that can entertain, educate, communicate personal or collective values, and amplify voices. In other words, I write music that tells stories.
My own story includes growing up in a rural community, developing an early (and ongoing) love of various flavors of rock music, and feeling a deep love of nature and the natural world. Singing in choral groups in both high school and college was a formative experience in both my personal and musical development.
As my musical world expanded, so did my influences. As I listened to new kinds ofmusic, I heard new stories. I began to understand the power and impact of storytelling through music. From Indian raga to Bartók to German polka music to Pink Floyd, I gained new insights into the personal and collective experiences of others.
Collaborative work holds special meaning through its power to tell collective stories. Though the catalog of my works spans a considerable range (from small new music chamber ensembles to musical theater), storytelling is the common thread that connects it all. I am eager to expand the scope of my work to write for larger ensembles in ways that will continue to tell stories and help make meaning of the world.