Daniel Brewbaker, born in Elgin, Illinois, began formal training in composition with Gordon Binkerd at the University of Illinois, continuing with Roger Sessions and Elliott Carter at the Juilliard School in New York where he received the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees.

Brewbaker has been commissioned to compose oratorios, cantatas, symphonic works and concertos for Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra and Chorus, James Conlon and the Cincinnati Symphony and Chorus, Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony and Chorus, New York Chamber Symphony and The Young People’s Chorus of NYC, Doreen Rao and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra and Millennium Festival Chorus, Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony, violinist Vadim Repin, Yuri Temirkanov and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and cellist Carter Brey and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

He has composed chamber and solo works for the centenary of the Juilliard School, pianist Richard Goode, mezzo soprano Frederica von Stade and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; and numerous choral works for, among others, Chanticleer, the Handel Oratorio Society of Dartmouth College, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and Symphony, the New Classic Singers and Heartland Voices Recent commissions include a symphonic work for the Seattle Symphony, two brass quintets, a Piano Trio for Alaria and a modern ballet for the Buglisi Dance Theater.

Brewbaker has been Composer-in-Residence at the Spoleto USA Music Festival, the Prince Albert Music Festival in Hawaii, the Cabrillo Music Festival, with composing residencies at the Camargo Foundation in France, the Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain, the Ligurian Study Center in Italy, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico, Copland House, Yaddo, MacDowell Colony and the American Academy in Rome. He has received awards from, among others, the American Academy of Arts & Letters, The Nadia Boulanger Foundation, Copland House/Borromeo String Quartet, and the International Rotary Foundation. He has held teaching positions at Juilliard, Hunter and Queens Colleges (CUNY), St. Stephen’s School in Rome, and the Westminster Choir College. He has lived extensively abroad, working with composers Hans Werner Henze, Luciano Berio and Henri Dutilleaux. His music is published by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., and distributed by Hal Leonard Corp. Brewbaker currently lives in New York City.

The Baltimore Sun said of Brewbaker’s recent Violin Concerto, “It did what precious few pieces of contemporary music do – light a fire under the audience. With good reason. Daniel Brewbaker’s Playing and Being Played has the right stuff. In a single, compact movement, Brewbaker’s concerto packs a remarkable amount of thematic material that is developed clearly and arrestingly. From its misty opening measures to a breathless dash for the finish line, the score travels through a variety of moods with a restless energy that, even at the slowest, quietest moments, exudes a powerful tension. At one of those soft spots, a lyrical theme, simple and direct, emerges from the violin. Many a composer, past or present, would envy its haunting pull. Brewbaker has a flair for writing unabashedly beautiful themes. Repin played the heck out of the heartily applauded new work.”

About Mother, Father:

Mother, Father is a pair of madrigals for a cappella chorus based on two poems by E.E. Cummings, which he wrote in honor of his beloved parents. The depth of Cummings’ respect for, and even awe of, his parent’s force of character and of their love for each other informs every line of each poem. my father moved through dooms of love offers a portrait of his father’s nobility and generosity of spirit in contrast, and as an alternative to the ignoble motives that are often in evidence in the world at large. It suggests the complexities and paradoxes inherent in one who thinks, feels and loves from the depths of his soul, demonstrating the possibility of hope and inspiration as a way of life. if there are any heavens is the natural counterpart, conferring the honor and reverence due to one whose compassionate devotion has earned her own form of immortality.

My musical setting of these poems is intended as a loving tribute to my own parents, both of whom I cared for during the last phase of their respective lives, and from whom I learned the most essential and profound lessons about life and love, as well as death and dying. Both pieces were composed mostly in my childhood home, while my mother was in hospice care, some twenty years after my father’s passing. Thus, they were composed from the perspective of mature adulthood, while I was also surrounded by the palpable memories of my early childhood and youth.

I have felt a deep affinity with the sensibility and work of E.E. Cummings since before I began setting his words to music when I was seventeen. His innate qualities of wonder, tenderness, humor, humanity and always vibrant sense of being alive have been a source of inspiration to me throughout my life.

The work was commissioned by and composed for Musica Sacra and Kent Tritle, who were in my thoughts and heart throughout the process of composing.