The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University has selected Daniel for both the Summer 2021 and Academic Year 2021-2022 FLAS Fellowship. This competitive fellowship, supported by the US Department of Education, supports three or four graduate students per year who have a special interest in less commonly studied languages.
This award will allow Daniel to focus on Farsi, Persian studies, and research toward his dissertation.

Daniel’s work گلی از دست برفت (Golī az dast beraft) “A flower was lost”—commissioned by VocalEssence—was selected as winner of Chorus Austin’s Young Composer Competition from a pool of 114 composers from around the world. Daniel will collaborate with the ensemble on performances of the work this Fall in Austin, Texas.

Daniel’s work At any rate II—commissioned by National Sawdust for the JACK Quartet—received honors from ASCAP’s panel of judges.

Among a field of over 400 applicants, Daniel was selected for a commission from loadbang through their annual Commission Competition. Daniel will be collaborating with loadbang over the next year on a new work for the ensemble, with a workshop planned for summer 2022 at Longy’s Divergent Studio.

Chosen from a pool of 150 applicants in 32 states, the District of Columbia, and four countries, Daniel will be collaborating with Music from Copland House on a new commission this June 6 – 14 at Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home in northern Westchester County, NY, and other nearby locations. Full press release here.

Over the course of the year, I will be working with Karen Slack, Joel Ivany, Ian Cusson, and more mentors on new projects, what making opera entails today, and how we drive the art-form forward.

Bloomington’s New Voices Opera will feature my scene The Seduction of Honorius on their Fall Exhibition of new operatic works The X.
The show will be streamed Tuesday, 12/8 at 7pm EST.
RSVP HERE

I am excited to be joining a wonderful roster of artists of diverse backgrounds and practice to be commissioned by National Sawdust as part of their inaugural New Works Commission for their Digital Discovery Festival. Over the next months I will be participating in master classes and collaboration sessions with the mentor artists and wonderful performers from the JACK Quartet and the National Sawdust ensemble. The new works for JACK will be premiered online Friday Dec 11th at 5pm here.

Daniel and his collaborative team, Mina Salehpour and Yashar Saghai, have been awarded a major award from OPERA America to support their new monodrama The Veil. OPERA America’s new IDEA Opera Grants (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access) support works by under-represented voices in American opera.
FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE