Daniel Felsenfeld

Composer Daniel Felsenfeld has been commissioned and performed by Simone Dinnerstein, Opera on Tap, the Chorus of Trinity Wall Street, Juilliard, UrbanArias, Metropolis Ensemble, Transient Canvas, the Crossing, International Contemporary Ensemble, Meerenai Shim, the NY Phil Biennial, Ensemble Dal Niente, NANOWorks Opera, Interschool Orchestra of New York, Kathleen Supovè, Two Sense (Lisa Moore and Ashley Bathgate), ASCAP, San Jose Opera, ETHEL, Great Noise Ensemble, American Opera Projects, the Secret Opera, Da Capo Chamber Players, Judith Gordon, Blair McMillian, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Transit, Redshift, Nadia Sirota, Jennifer Choi, Lara Downes, Blair McMillen, Metropolis Ensemble, Two Sides Sounding, Megan Ihnen, Shepherdess, Kristin Elgersma, Eleanor Taylor and Jen Devore, Alcyone Ensemble, Parhelion Trio, Bryan Haslett (with Juxatonal), Xanthos Ensemble, Friction Quartet, Momenta Quartet, Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne, Cornelius Dufallo, Emily Manzo, Stephanie Mortimore, Zoe Sorrell, Mellissa Hughes, Corey Dargel, Jenny Lin, New York City Opera (VOX), ACME, New Gallery Concert Series, Gabriella Diaz, Jody Redhage, Caroline Worra, Kirsten Chambers, Chelsea Feltman, Marcy Richardson, Kamala Sankaram, the Jessold Consort, New England Conservatory Philharmonic in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Galapagos Art Space, the Kimmel Center, Jordan Hall, the Kitchen, Miller Theatre, Merkin Hall, Wigmore Hall, Stanford University, Harvard University, National Sawdust, the Stone, Brown University, Le Poisson Rouge, City Winery, and the Kennedy Center as well as part of the BEAT Festival, MATA Festival, Make Music New York, 21c Liederabend, Ecstatic Music Festival, Opera Grows in Brooklyn, New Brew, Serial Underground, and John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders. He is an artist in residence at Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theater.

When rapper Jay-Z performed at Carnegie Hall with Alicia Keys and Nas, backed by a full orchestra, Felsenfeld created the orchestrations and arrangements. He also collaborated with the Roots (offering music on their Grammy-nominated record Undun, appearing with them and conducting the Metropolis Ensemble on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon) and ?uestlove with Keren Ann and David Murray. He also wrote arrangements for ShuffleCulture and Electronium, shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with ?uestlove, Sasha Grey, Deerhoof, Reggie Watts, and How to Dress Well and the Metropolis Ensemble. He also has written arrangements for Renée Fleming, George Michael, and Wesley Stace, and is the court composer for John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders, for which he wrote the theme—and which can be heard as an NPR podcast. Residencies include Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Hermitage, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. 

Felsenfeld is an essayist and annotator as well as the author of eight books and articles for the New York Times, the New Yorker, Listen, Playbill, Time Out New York, Symphony Magazine, Strings Magazine, New Music Box, and Early Music Magazine; program notes for the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, Miller Theatre, Wigmore Hall, and Carnegie Hall; and liner notes for Naxos, Bridge, Koch, EMI, Sony, and Adjustable Music.

He was curator for the Score in the Opinionator section of the New York Times; co-founded the New Music Gathering (an annual conference-concert series hybrid); and co-produced Music After, a marathon concert on September 11, 2011, with Eleonor Sandresky. He is a lead teaching artist and mentor at the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program as well as holding teaching positions at Juilliard, the Curtis Institute, the Walden School, and the New School for Social Research. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and child.