Joseph Dangerfield has lived and worked professionally in Germany, Russia, Holland, and the United States. Over the past several years his creative voice has been garnering much attention, with performances of his works throughout the United States and abroad. American presenters include the Society of Composers Inc., the MusicX Festival at the Cincinnati Conservatory, the San Francisco New Music Festival, and the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music. His instrumental and chamber compositions have also been performed at such international venues as the Moscow Conservatory, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Frankfurter KuenstlerKlub, the Conservatorio di Giuseppe Tartini (Trieste, Italy) and in Cairo, Egypt.
Born in 1977, he began his composition studies at Marshall University (BFA 1999) with Michael Golden. He completed his masterŐs degree at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, working with Marilyn Shrude and Mikel Kuehn, and received a doctorate in 2005 from the University of Iowa, following studies under David Gompper.
Dangerfield is the recipient of many awards and recognitions, including The Young and Emerging Composers Award (2002), ASCAP Standard Awards, and the Henry and Parker Pelzer Prize for Excellence in Composition (2005). Most recently, he was awarded a Fulbright Lecture/Research Award to the Russian Federation and the Netherlands for the 2009-10 academic year, where he served as composer-in-residence with the Ensemble Studio New Music at the famed Moscow Conservatory, and lectured at Maastricht Conservatorium. In 2008, he was selected for a three-week independent senior residency in the Leighton Studios of the prestigious Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. Recordings of his works are available on the Albany Records label, and many are published by European American Music and PIP Press Music Publications.
Originally trained as a pianist, Dangerfield is active as a performer and conductor throughout the United States. He has conducted various concerts (chamber and orchestral) of music, both new and from the canon in New York, Vienna, Prague, and others.
He currently resides in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he is Assistant Professor of music composition and theory, as well as the director of orchestral activities at Coe College.
~Deborah Fleitz
