my career highlights
01/10/2011

a few highlights of my music career to date

Barbican concerts
One of my first significant engagements was to give a solo concert the Barbican Arts Centre, London – UK’s premier arts centre.   Although I performed there several times, that first concert still sticks in my mind – I played an acoustic guitar and an electro-acoustic guitar with effects and sampling.  The Barbican kindly wrote to me afterwards and commented:  ‘you attracted a large and enthusiastic audience’.  Since then I have performed up and down the country.

Recording the ‘More So’ project
At one point in my career I ran a small commercial studio.  One customer who recorded several projects with me is Andy Crowdy.   Andy is one of the best musicians I know – he plays jazz bass and guitar all over the world and is featured on my last three CD recordings.  My favorite project of Andy’s was his own album: More So, which featured Alan Barnes on sax and clarinet.  Alan has since been awarded Clarinetist Of The Year, Saxophonist Of The Year and Multi-instrumentalist Of The Year, several times each.  The music is fantastic and Andy’s own composition ’Green and Gold’ is one of my all-time-favorite tracks.  

working with Roger Nicholson
Roger was England’s foremost exponent on the mountain dulcimer.  I first met Roger when I was at university back in the 1970’s - he had already recorded his iconic Nonesuch album at that time.  We didn’t meet again for about 20 years when we were both involved in the UK dulcimer club.  The friendship that followed resulted in us undertaking a USA tour together and Roger playing on my Sprit Dancing CD, both in 1997.  Sadly, Roger died in 2009.  It was an honour for me to lead a seminar as tribute to Roger and his work at Kentucky Music Week festival in 2010.

Kentucky tour in 2000
Although I’ve been to Kentucky many times, there was something magical about that first tour.  I played a concert in Bowling Green, performed live on TV and was featured on a film ‘Under Kentucky Skies’ as well as teaching and performing at two festivals:  Kentucky Music Week and Kentucky Music Weekend.  As well as being huge fun, I met many new friends and the tour opened many doors for me.  In particular, meeting the late, great (Professor) David Schnaufer and the legendary Jean Ritchie were highlights of the tour.  I have many fond memories of playing other US festivals too, including SAMFest in Texas and the friendly Dulcimer Chautauqua on the Wabash, in the beautiful town of New Harmony, Indiana.

CD recordings
I take pride in my work and have gone to some pains to make professional recordings in excellent studios with highly-experienced engineers and international musicians.  Matt Parkin produced my Spirit Dancing CD at The Old School Studio in Peterborough.  Matt has since been appointed Controller of Classical Music for BBC Radio Scotland.  My last two projects were recorded at the same studio (although it has changed hands) and were produced by the talented Russ Dawson-Butterworth.  Matt & Russ have both done a great job, as have the accompanying musicians – indeed the reviews speak for themselves.

I am grateful to Andy Crowdy (bass), Martin Vishnick (classical guitar) and Sylvia Seaton (violin) to mention but three.  Martin tours the world playing classical guitar and has become a close friend.  Sylvia and I have given concerts in the UK as the violin-and-dulcimer duo: Eclipse.  As well as playing beautifully, Sylvia has a lovely stage presence and is a delight to work with.    

    
Perhaps my best album is Autumn Dance, which not only displays a good variety of dulcimer pieces, but also showcases my electro-acoustic guitar effects.   One British magazine published this review of Autumn Dance: "This album features once again Dan’s amazing talents on electro-acoustic and acoustic guitars and mountain dulcimer. Dan's mastery of his instruments and the electronic effects he creates through sampling, coupled with his sensitive and modal accompaniments create a unique and distinctive melodic sound throughout this album.  Recording quality is first class as one would expect and the album as a whole is superbly and professionally packaged".

standing ovations, great CD sales and teaching
I am naturally proud of my performance successes and occasionally I’ve been given standing ovations.  Sometimes too, my CD sales at concerts have been impressive and these events have been highlights of my career.  However, teaching can be even more rewarding.  Students on my Everyone Can Sing workshop are often moved by how much progress they are able to make in just a short time.  With the right help and a safe ambience, students find their voice and then there’s no stopping them!   We also have enormous fun and for both these reasons, my Everyone Can Sing workshop has been extremely popular and highly successful, with students coming from all over Europe.  Probably, my Everyone Can Sing workshop has been the most rewarding work I’ve done to date.  The feedback speaks for itself. 

                     
read about my music influences