Commissioned Composer: Dr. Daniel Eichenbaum

Dr. Daniel Eishenbaum has been selected as the 2019 West Virginia Commissioned Composer.  Dr. Eishenbaum’s music has been performed and published throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. His Sinfonietta, for wind ensemble augmented with string quartet, is a ground-breaking work premiered by the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Wind Symphony under the direction of Steven Davis. Other recent works include Orbit, for flute, clarinet, and live electronics commissioned and premiered by the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance. 
 
Dr. Eichenbaum combines his love of music and science as curator and composer for the interdisciplinary performance group, Dark Matter. Dark Matter performs live, electroacoustic music in a planetarium combining performance art and science education into a single, unified experience. Dark Matter has already won grants from the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City and Charlotte Street Foundation. In addition to his creative output, Dr. Eichenbaum is a devoted teacher of composition and music theory at Fairmont State University. From 2007 to 2011, Dr. Eichenbaum was a Fellow for the Composers in the Schools (CITS) program. CITS is an outreach program that places well-qualified music teachers in classrooms where they can inspire underserved Kansas City students. Dr. Eichenbaum earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in music composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, where he studied with Chen Yi, James Mobberley, Paul Rudy, and Pulitzer Prize winning composer Zhou Long. 
 
The 2019 Commissioned work will be a piece titled “Greenbank,” in homage to our state’s radio observatory.  Planned instrumentation is solo piano with fixed media, written at a difficulty level accessible to undergraduate-level pianists.  Dr. Eichenbaum hopes this will encourage young pianists to explore contemporary electroacoustic music, especially with its connection to our local region. 
 
The commissioned work will be premiered at the fall 2019 WVMTA Conference.