welcome to Designer Tunes





and the music of Daniel Sutton




BIOGRAPHY

Young American Composer Daniel Sutton is one of the upcoming talents of his generation.  Audiences worldwide with great enthusiasm are hearing his symphonic, chamber, solo, and vocal works, numbering over thirty at present.  In July of 2005 his Brass Quartet, Communion, part 1 received its world premier in Germany by members of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.  Wild Nights, for soprano, cello, and piano was premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Germany) in March 2001.  In April 2000, the New American Overture (July 4th at Gettysburg) was premiered by the Magdeburg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of American conductor Carol I. Crawford to critical acclaim.  Two vocal works, the Five Songs on Texts by Attilio Bertolucci, for lyric soprano and piano, and the Poems from Issa, for mezzo-soprano and piano, were premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in November 1999.  Also premiered at the Deutsche Oper were the Escapades, for piano (played by the composer).  In December 1999, Sutton’s song The Bells

Some of Sutton’s well known solo piano works are the Toccata-Fantasy, Four American Preludes on a Third, and Sea Nocturne which were performed by the composer while on tour throughout Europe, South America, Australia, the Caribbean and the South Pacific in 1996 through 1999.  Also in 1998 the two art songs Amore a me... and Torrente, from Five Songs on Texts by Attilio Bertolucci were heard on SFB public radio in Berlin performed by Soprano Abbie Furmansky and accompanied by the composer.

A virtuoso pianist, Sutton regularly performs his own unique piano works as well as works of the standard repertoire.  Recently he gave concerts of Liszt’s transcriptions of Beethoven’s 1st and 3rd Symphonies along with his own transcription of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture.  In summer 2002, he continues this cycle by giving performances of Liszt’s transcriptions of Beethoven's 4th and  5th Symphonies along with his own transcription of the Coriolan Overture in Bayreuth.  He has won many competitions and honors including prizes in the distinguished Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition in Palm Springs and the Magues Piano Competition in Cincinnati.  He gave his Carnegie Hall debut at Weil Recital Hall in 1996.  He has performed extensively as a soloist, chamber musician, vocal accompanist, and soloist with various orchestras.  

Sutton attended The Juilliard School as a scholarship student of Josef Raieff and teaching assistant.  During his years at Juilliard he made his debut as a composer with the performances of his chamber works Homage to Machaut, The Magic Theatre, and Golden Pears of the Earth.  Sutton went on to receive his Doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music in 1995.  

Among his most recent projects have been the completion of the new musical CamouflageChips.  In 2001 he was a musical consultant on Roman Polanski’s Oscar winning film, The Pianist.  In January 2002, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung gave the world premiere of Sutton’s Six Songs on Poems by D.H. Lawrence at Weill Recital Hall.  In 2003 he wrote and recorded the soundtrack to the Mini Pictures film A Small Place
His brass quartet, Communion, Part 1 was premiered in Germany in August, 2005 by members of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

He presently resides in Berlin with his wife, soprano Abbie Furmansky and son Joshua.