Director of the Mead Witter School of Music | Professor of Composition and Jazz Studies
College of Letters and Science | Mead Witter School of Music
Hometown: St. Paul, MN
Dan Cavanagh is a composer and pianist with numerous awards in both areas. He has performed extensively in North America and Europe, and his music continues to be performed across the globe by classical and jazz artists alike. His music can be heard on a wide variety of recordings, and he has released five recordings as a leader. In addition to composing and performing, he is interested in the way music and the arts serve to shed light on what it means to be human.
Talks:
Music and the Human Spirit
Dan Cavanagh will talk about his experiences as a composer and pianist paired alongside recent advances in neuroscience and aesthetics that illuminate why music is uniquely important to our varied experiences as human beings. He will discuss how composers, performers, and conductors partner with listeners in the moment to create an environment conducive to considering the human spirit, our place in this universe, and our relationships with each other and the world.