Composer Dan Locklair to be honored by radio station WDAV in Davidson, NC

Composer Dan Locklair, who will retire from full-time teaching after 43 years at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem on Monday, June 30, is being honored that day by radio station WDAV 89.9 FM in Davidson, NC, with broadcasts of many of his significant works.

Locklair pieces will air during the 8 AM hour, 11AM (the Pause for Reflection program), 2 PM (the Midday Masterpiece show) and in the 8 PM hour. In addition, on Friday July 4, they’ll broadcast the composer’s Independence Day (from Symphony No. 2, “America”) in the 10 AM hour. And, on Friday, July 11, a composition for the 3 PM Pause for Reflection.

Wake Forest has already designated Locklair Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music Emeritus as of July 1. When he indicated his desire to retire from full-time teaching in order to devote 100% of his work to composition, Wake Forest immediately asked if he might continue to teach his composition students, beginning August 1, to which he quickly agreed.

The composer recalled how his relationship with WDAV began, “my memories of the station go back to the ’60’s. Only this past week in my file cleaning  I ran across an early ’70’s letter from Wilmer Welsh firming up my organ recital date at Davidson Presbyterian Church where, in the letter, he told me that WDAV would be taping it for broadcast.” Thus began a long and happy professional and personal relationship with the station.

Dan Locklair‘s music is widely performed throughout the U.S. and around the world. His catalog includes symphonic works, a ballet, an opera, chamber, instrumental, vocal and choral compositions. His commissioned works have been performed by musicians worldwide, including the BBC Singers, Gregg Smith Singers, Elmer Iseler Singers, the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys of New York City and the Saint Paul’s Cathedral Choir of London, as well as the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Kansas City Symphony, the St. Louis Orchestra,. Broadcasts of it have included Vatican Radio, Czech Radio, Radio Finland, NPR, the BBC and the CBC. CDs include his Symphony of Seasons (Symphony No. 1) and Symphony No. 2 “America,” both recorded for Naxos by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, andGloria and Requiem, two collections of choral works for the British Convivium label. Recordings are also available on Ondine, Koch, Albany, Loft, Priory (UK) and other labels. His primary publishers are Ricordi and Subito.