DANIEL ASIA, born in Seattle, WA in 1953, has been the recipient of the most competitive grants and fellowships in music including a Meet The Composer/ Reader's Digest Consortium Commission, United Kingdom Fulbright Arts Award Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, four NEA Composers Grants, a M. B. Rockefeller Grant, an Aaron Copland Fund for Music Grant, MacDowell Colony and Tanglewood Fellowships, ASCAP and BMI composition prizes, and a DAAD Fellowship for study in the Federal Republic of Germany. From 1991-1994, Mr. Asia was the Meet the Composer/ Composer In Residence with the Phoenix Symphony. As Elliott Hurwitt writes in his Schwann Opus review of the composer’s compact disc, IVORY, "Daniel Asia is a genuine creative spirit, an excellent composer,... He is a welcome addition to the roster of our strongest group of living composers."

The composer's major orchestral works include four symphonies, a piano concerto, a cello concerto, 2 song cycles and the works AT THE FAR EDGE, BLACK LIGHT, and GATEWAYS. He has also written extensively for chamber ensembles and solo performers. Working with many renowned soloists, ensembles, and orchestras, Mr. Asia has been commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra/Syde Family, Knoxville Symphony, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra, Koussevitsky Music Foundation, Fromm Music Foundation, D’Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts/Domus, Oberlin Woodwind Quintet, Dorian Wind Quintet, American Brass Quintet, Meadowmount Trio, Andre-Michel Schub/piano, Carter Brey/cello, Alex Klein/oboe, Benjamin Verdery/guitar, John Shirley-Quirk and Sara Watkins/baritone and oboe, Jonathan Shames/piano, violinists Curtis Macomber, Gregory Fulkerson, Mark Rush and Zina Schiff, and Robert Dick/flute.

Mr. Asia’s music has also been performed by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, San Francisco Contemporary Chamber Players, Contemporary Chamber Players/Chicago, Scott Chamber Players/Indianapolis, Aspen Festival Chamber Orchestra, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Endymion Ensemble, Lontano and the BBC Singers, and numerous other chamber ensembles. His music has been played throughout the United States, and in the major venues of New York, including Carnegie Hall and Recital Hall, 92nd Street Y, Merkin Hall, the Great Hall at Cooper Union, those of London including Queen Elizabeth Hall (South Bank), St. John’s, Smith Square, Wigmore Hall, and throughout Europe and Asia. Asia’s works have been performed by renowned conductors including Zdenek Macal, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Eiji Oue, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Hermann Michael, Carl St. Clair, James Sedares, Stuart Malina, Robert Bernhardt, George Hanson, Jonathan Shames, Odaline de la Martinez, Christopher Kendall, and Ralph Shapey.

Mr. Asia is also the founder and present Co-Music Director of the New York-based contemporary ensemble MUSICAL ELEMENTS. The Ensemble has performed in all the major halls of New York and was in residence at the 92nd Street Y, 1986-9. MUSICAL ELEMENTS has recorded for Composers Recording Inc. and Summit Records.

After receiving his BA degree from Hampshire College, Mr. Asia attended the Yale School of Music, receiving the Master of Music Degree. His major teachers include Jacob Druckman, Stephen Albert, Gunther Schuller, Isang Yun, Arthur Weisburg, Bruce MacCombie, Ron Perera, and Randall McClellan.

Assistant Professor of Contemporary Music and Wind Ensemble at the Oberlin Conservatory from 1981-6, Mr. Asia resided in London from 1986-8 working under the auspices of the UK Fulbright Arts Award and Guggenheim Fellowship. He is presently Professor of Composition, and head of the Composition Department, at The University of Arizona, Tucson. Mr. Asia’s music is published by Theodore Presser Co. He is represented as composer and conductor by Stanton Consulting & Management of Astoria, New York. Married to Carolee Asia, Mr. Asia and his wife are the parents of three children.

Summit Records released TRILOGY in the Spring 2004, featuring performances by the Dorian Wind Quintet, American Brass Quintet, and Cypress String Quartet. Summit released two DVDs in the Fall 2002. These include SACRED AND PROFANE, an electro-acoustic disc (by Asia/Haaheim), and BREATH IN A RAM’S HORN, including three song cycles for voice and piano. Summit records has released four Asia CDs over the last two years including AT THE FAR EDGE (including this piece and symphonies 1 and 4); SONGS FROM THE PAGE OF SWORDS (instrumental song cycles); GATEWAYS (with this piece and PIANO CONCERTO and BLACK LIGHT) ; and IVORY, including SCHERZO SONATA, WHY (?) JACOB, and PIANO QUARTET. SYMPHONY NO. 2 and SYMPHONY NO. 3 can be heard on New World Records (80447-2.) STRING QUARTET NO. 1, SAND II, RIVALRIES, SHTAY and MILES MIX, appear on Albany Troy 106. PLUM-Dream Sequence II appears on the Attacca label performed by flutist, Robert Dick (BABEL 9158-1), and YOUR CRY WILL BE A WHISPER appears on Mushkatweek Records (200), performed by Benjamin Verdery, guitar.

For further information on recent publications contact Theodore Presser Co.

For information on Asia recordings contact Summit Records.