Dan Welcher (born March 2, 1948)^[1][2][3][4] is anAmericancomposer,conductor, andmusic educator.

Welcher was born inRochester, New York and earned degrees from theEastman School of Music and theManhattan School of Music, studyingbassoon,piano, and composition. He was principal bassooonist at theLouisville Orchestra and a professor of composition and music theory atUniversity of Louisville from 1972 to 1978. He additionally taught at theAspen Music Festival and School from 1976 until 1990, and began teaching at theUniversity of Texas at Austin in 1978. He founded theUT New Music Ensemble and served as the assistant conductor of theAustin Symphony Orchestra from 1980 until 1990.^[5]

Welcher's compositions includeconcertos,symphonies,vocal literature,piano solos, and various kinds ofchamber music. He also wrote two operas,Della's Gift, which premiered in Austin in 1987, andHoly Night, which premiered in 2004.^[6]Della's Gift has been performed with several opera companies including theNew York City Opera. His works have been performed by such ensembles as theAtlanta Symphony Orchestra,Chicago Symphony Orchestra, theHonolulu Symphony, theBoston Pops Orchestra, theUtah Symphony, theDallas Symphony Orchestra, and theSt. Louis Symphony Orchestra. His music is published by theTheodore Presser Company, among others. Recently completed works includePersonal Ads: Eight Cabaret Songs, which is a song cycle for piano, soprano and tenor, and the Fifth Symphony, premiered by the Austin Symphony Orchestra on May 1, 2009.^[7]

Welcher's numerous accolades include awards and fellowships from theGuggenheim Foundation,National Endowment for the Arts, theRockefeller Foundation, theMacDowell Colony,Yaddo, theAmerican Music Center, andASCAP.

For several years, Welcher hosted a weekly radio series called Knowing the Score, aimed at introducing listeners to contemporary classical music.^[8]

Welcher held theLee Hage Jamail Regents Professorship in Composition at the University of Texas, teaching music composition, and served as director of the UT New Music Ensemble until his abrupt departure in 2019 following numerous allegations of sexual misconduct as reported in a September 26, 2019 article in VAN Magazine.^[9][10][11]

• Beyond Sight (for atone poem after Plato fororchestra; 1999)
• Bridges (for five pieces forstring orchestra; 1991)
• Bright Wings: A Valediction (for large orchestra; 1996)
• Castle Creek Fanfare/Overture (for large orchestra; 1989)
• Concerto de [sic] Camera (forbassoon and small orchestra; 1975)
• Concerto for Clarinet (forclarinet and orchestra; 1989)
• Concerto for Flute (forflute and orchestra; 1974)
• Concerto for Piano (Shiva's Drum) (forpiano and orchestra; 1993)
• Concerto for Timpani (fortimpani and orchestra; 2004)
• Concerto for Violin (forviolin and orchestra; 1993)
• Dervishes (for ritual dance scene for orchestra; 1976)
• Haleakala: How Maui Snared the Sun (fornarrator and orchestra; 1991)
• Jackpot: A Celebratory Overture (for large orchestra; 2005)
• Prairie Light: Three Texas Water Colors of Georgia O'Keeffe (for orchestra; 1985)
• Spumante (for festive overture for large orchestra; 1998)
• Symphony No. 1 (for orchestra; 1992)
• Symphony No. 2Night Watchers (for large orchestra; 1994)
• Symphony No. 5 (for large symphony orchestra; 2009)
• The Visions of Merlin (for orchestra; 1980)
• Venti di Mare (Sea Winds) (for fantasy-concerto foroboe and small orchestra; 1999)
• Zion (for orchestra; 1999)

• Arches: An Impression for Concert Band (forconcert band; 1984)
• Castle Creek Overture (for band; 1989)
• Circular Marches (for largewind ensemble; 1997)
• Glacier (for large wind ensemble; 2003)
• For The Mystic Harmony (for large wind ensemble; 2017)
• Laboring songs (for large wind ensemble; 1997)
• Minstrels of the Kells (for concert band; 2002)
• Perpetual Song (for concert band; 2000)
• Songs Without Words: Five Mood Pieces for Wind Ensemble (for wind ensemble; 2001)
• Spumante (for wind ensemble; 1999)
• Symphony No. 3Shaker Life (for concert band; 1998)
• Symphony No. 4American Visionary (for large wind ensemble; 2005)
• The Yellowstone Fires (for large wind ensemble; 1988)
• Zion (for wind ensemble; 1994)

• A Rag for Rags (for brass sextet andpercussion; also for piano; 1984)
• All the Words to All the Songs (for flute and piano; 1996)
• Another Rag for Rags (for violin and piano; 2001)
• Brass Quintet (for brass quintet; 1982)
• Chameleon Music (for ten percussionists; 1987)
• Dante Dances (for clarinet and piano; 1995)
• Elizabethan Variations (for fourrecorders; 1968)
• Firewing: The Flame and the Moth (for oboe and percussion; 1968)
• Florestan's Falcon (for flute and piano; 2002)
• Harbor Music (String Quartet #2) (for string quartet; 1992)
• Hauntings (fortuba ensemble; 1986)
• Listen Up! A Guide to Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, Tonecolor and Counterpoint (for woodwind quintet; 1986)
• Mill Songs (Four Metamorphoses after Schubert) (for oboe and bassoon; 1997)
• Museon Polemos (War of the Muses)
• Nocturne and Dance (fortrumpet and piano; 1966)
• Partita (forhorn, violin, and piano; 1980)
• Phaedrus (for violin, clarinet, and piano; 1995)
• Quintet (for clarinet and string quartet; 2001)
• Reversible Jackets: Exercises in Conjugal Counterpoint (for flute and clarinet; 1987)
• Spirit Realms (Three Meditations) (for flute (dbl. piccolo & alto flute) and percussion; 1996)
• Stigma (for solocontrabass and piano; 1990)
• String Quartet No. 1 (forstring quartet; 1988)
• The Wind Won't Listen (for bassoon and string quartet; 2002)
• Trio (for violin,violoncello, and piano; 1975)
• Tsunami (for cello, percussion and piano; 1991)
• White Mares of the Moon (for flute andharp; 1986)
• Woodwind Quintet No. 1 (for woodwind quintet; 1967)
• Woodwind Quintet No. 2 (for woodwind quintet; 1977)
• You Can Fool... (for percussion quartet; 2009)
• Zephyrus (for flute, violin,viola, and cello; 1990)

• Dance Variations (for solo piano; 1979)
• Dreaming of Goldberg (for adult beginning piano; 1979)
• High Tech Etudes (for solo piano; 1988)
• Pachel's Bells (for solo piano; 1986)
• Sonatina (for solo piano; 1972)
• The Birth of Shiva (for solo piano; 1999)

• A Star Over Fifth Avenue (2003)
• Della's Gift (foropera in two acts; 1986)
• Holy Night (for opera in three scenes and an epilogue; 2003)
• The Yellow Wallpaper (seven scenes; 2010)

• Abeja Blanca (formezzo-soprano,english horn, and piano; 1979)
• Canticle of the Sun (for mezzo-soprano,mixed chorus, andorgan; 2000)
• Evening Scenes: Three Poems of James Agee (fortenor and chamber ensemble; 1985)
• Four More Personal Ads (for tenor and piano; 2009)
• Four Personal Ads (forsoprano and piano; 2007)
• Go Slow, My Soul (for medium voice and piano; 2003)
• How to Make Coq au Vin (for voice and piano; 2005)
• JFK: The Voice of Peace (for anoratorio for orchestra, chorus, and speakers; 1999)
• Leaves of Grass (fora cappellachoir; 2004)
• My Life Closed Twice (for medium voice and piano; 2004)
• Remembrance in Black and White (for mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano, and percussion; 2001)
• The Bequest (for soprano and flute; 1976)
• Tickets for a Prayer Wheel (forbaritone and viola; 1997)
• Vox femina: A Cycle of Poems by and about Women (for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano; 1984)

• Dan Welcher's page at Theodore Presser Company
• Official Site

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