Composer

Daniel’s compositions have been heard throughout the United States, France, England, Croatia, and Italy.  He has been commissioned by the International Arts Educators Forum, Trio Solano, Farallon Quintet, Shipyard Trust for the Arts, Gold Coast Chamber Players, Le Petit Festival, Cecilia String Quartet, and Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera. In 2021 he received a grant from InterMusic SF to make a video of his composition “Ehrlichia,” Rhapsody in Discomfort #6, which is available to view on Youtube and brought catharsis to thousands of Lyme Disease victims.  In 2022, he was awarded a Silver Medal in Composition by Global Music Awards for “Ehrlichia.”  In 2023, he wrote an article about this experience for New Music USA, titled Rhapsody in Discomfort. His composition, An Animated Street in Autumn, was recently featured in The Strad. His compositions can be heard on his recent album, The Bow and the Brush (MSR Classics). He is a Contributing Director of Sonic Harvest and his compositions are being published by American Composers Alliance. His transcription of Sibelius is published by Fennica Gehrman and his transcriptions of Bach, Satie and Rachmaninoff are published by Ascenda Music.

In 2025, Daniel has premiered FourSquared Arc Variations (String Quartet #5) at Arc Gallery in San Francisco, The Girl in Red at Villa Maybeck in Berkeley, “Le Petit,” Rhapsody in Discomfort #9 at Le Petit Festival in Dubrovnik, and Water Lilies (String Quartet #3) at University of California at Berkeley. In 2024, he premiered LeGato au Chocolat at Carnegie Hall and Rhapsody in Discomfort #8 “Extolling the External” at Accademia Philharmonica Romana in Rome, the Cecilia String Quartet premiered The Magpie (String Quartet #1) at Sonic Harvest, and the Sacramento Philharmonic premiered his transcription of Sibelius’s Trio in G Minor. In 2023, Dan premiered Hymn, inspired by Camille Pissarro, at the Stern-Pissarro Gallery in London, Tamayo at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, and was invited to perform Nue aux Cheveux Roux- Hommage á Henner at the Musée Jean-Jacques Henner in Paris. During the pandemic, he was commissioned by Hunters Point Shipyard Artists to compose and record the music for their Socially Distanced Artists Series.

List of Works

In order of composition:

  • The Girl in Red, (after an anonymous painting) commissioned by L. John Harris) for violin and piano MUSIC – YOUTUBE
  • FourSquared Arc Variations (String Quartet #5) composed for Arc Gallery MUSIC 
  • “Le Petit,” Rhapsody in Discomfort #9 (after a sculpture by Gilbert Peyre), commissioned by Le Petit Festival, for solo violin MUSIC 
  • Devil Went Up to Bern (String Quartet #4), commissioned by Maki Ishii Sowash and the Cecilia Ensemble MUSIC (coming soon)
  • Water Lilies (String Quartet #3) (after the painting by Claude Monet), commissioned by Julie Kim MUSIC – YOUTUBE
  • Tamayo (String Quartet #2) arranged from the String Trio MUSIC 
  • The Magpie (String Quartet #1) (after the painting by Claude Monet) MUSIC 
  • Tamayo (after a painting by Rufino Tamayo) for string trio MUSIC
  • Rhapsody in Discomfort #8 “Extolling the External,” commissioned by International Arts Educators Forum, for piano, clarinet, violin and cello MUSIC
  • LeGato au Chocolat (after a painting by Cynthia Alvarez) for solo violin
  • “Concert Stuck,” Rhapsody in Discomfort #8 for string quartet MUSIC
  • Ethereal Explorations (after the sculpture by Rebecca Fox), commissioned by SF Shipyard Gallery, for solo violin
  • Hymn (after a drawing by Camille Pissarro), composed for the Stern Pissarro Gallery, for solo violin MUSIC – SPOTIFY (coming soon)
  • Perlmutter (after the painting Cattails on the Waterfront by Jennifer Perlmutter) commissioned by Gold Coast Chamber Players, for solo violin MUSIC
  • Monterey Sentinels (after the painting by Joaquin Turner) for solo violin MUSIC – SPOTIFY
  • Plop Squeak Music (commissioned by Gabrielle Wunsch) for violin and trombone
  • Inevitable Entails (after the five-painting series by Beth Davila Waldman) for violin and cello MUSIC – YOUTUBE
  • “Ehrlichia,” Rhapsody in Discomfort #6, commissioned by Paul and Vicky Ehrlich, for string trio (violin, viola, cello) MUSIC – SPOTIFY (coming soon) – YOUTUBE
  • “Timeless,” Rhapsody in Discomfort #5 (after the metronome sculpture series Seduced By Syncopation by Sean O’Donnell) for solo violin and acoustic metronomes MUSIC – YOUTUBE
  • Shipyard Artist Elegy commissioned by Shipyard Artists Trust for the streamed Socially Distanced Artists Series, for solo violin YOUTUBE
  • An Animated Street in Autumn (after the painting by JF Raffaëlli) for solo violin MUSIC – SPOTIFY – YOUTUBE
  • ​Rhapsody in Discomfort #4 “The Lump in My Throat”  for solo violin 
  • ​Rhapsody in Discomfort #3 ‘Covids “Я” Us’ for solo violin MUSIC – YOUTUBE
  • ​The War on Christmas for two violins, a garbage violin, an axe, and optional whoopee cushions
  • ​Nue aux Cheveux Roux- Hommage á Henner for violin and piano MUSIC – SPOTIFY (coming soon) – YOUTUBE
  • ​Chorales and Interludes for solo violin
  • ​Are You Sure About This? for quintet (clarinet and string quartet)
  • ​Rhapsody in Discomfort #2 ‘Where’s My Monet?’ for cello and two violins
  • ​Interlace for two violins
  • ​’Borderline Phantasia,’ Rhapsody in Discomfort #1 for solo violin

 

Transcriptions:

  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Three Fugues for string trio MUSIC
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Vocalise for clarinet, flute, or oboe and string quartet MUSIC
  • Erik Satie: Three Gymnopédies for clarinet and string quartet MUSIC
  • Jean Sibelius: String Trio in G Minor for string orchestra MUSIC

 

 

“While every piece on the program was compelling in itself, the initial allure to this critic was the world premiere of “Hommage a Jean-Jacques Henner” by Dan Flanagan. In addition to his exploits as a widely known violinist, Flanagan is a noted connoisseur of art. It was the art of the great French painter Henner which inspired Flanagan to compose his “Nue aux cheveaux roux” for violin and piano. The key word here is “inspired“. It was obvious from the outset that we were going to be rewarded with an outstanding new composition. Flanagan’s hommage brings to mind Debussy at his most romantic. It is beautifully laid out with lyric singing passages alternating with mysterious tremelos in the violin and discordant rumbling in the piano. It will make a welcome addition to the violin repertoire. The composer played it brilliantly.”
Joseph Gold

The Musical Gourmet, Piedmont Post

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© 2025 Dan Flanagan