Education:
B.Mus., North Texas State Univ.
M.Mus., Manhattan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
M.Mus.A., D.M.A., Yale Univ.
Michael Daugherty is one of the most performed and commissioned American composers of concert music of his generation. He came to international attention in 1995 when his Metropolis Symphony (1988-93), a tribute to the Superman comics, was performed in New York at Carnegie Hall by conductor David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Recent commissioned orchestral works include MotorCity Triptych (2000), Raise the Roof (2003) and a violin concerto, Fire and Blood (2003) commissioned the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Hell's Angels (1999) for bassoon quartet and orchestra was commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra (London). The English horn concerto Spaghetti Western (1998) and Time Machine (2003) for three conductors and orchestra were commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony. Daugherty's percussion concerto, UFO (1999), was commissioned and premiered by Evelyn Glennie and the National Symphony Orchestra. His opera Jackie O (1997), commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera, has been produced internationally. Philadelphia Stories (2001) was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Two string quartets Sing Sing: J. Edgar Hoover (1992) and Elvis Everywhere (1993) where commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. Daugherty's piano concerto Deus ex Machina (2007) was commissioned by a consortium of the Charlotte, Nashville, New Jersey, Syracuse Symphony Orchestras and the Rochester Philharmonic. His compositions for wind ensemble and symphony band such as Niagara Falls (1997) and Bells for Stokowski (2002) have been played around the world.
He studied computer music in Paris at Boulez's IRCAM (1979-80) and his teachers include Jacob Druckman, Roger Reynolds, Earle Brown, Gyorgy Ligeti. He has collaborated with jazz arranger Gil Evans in New York and was a composition fellow at Tanglewood. Professor Daugherty taught music composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, 1986-1990. In 1991 Daugherty joined the composition department at the University of Michigan where he is Professor of Composition.
Professor Daugherty has received numerous awards for his music including the Stoeger Prize from the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and fellowships the National Endowment for the Arts, Fulbright and Guggenheim Foundations. He was composer-in-residence with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (1999-2003) and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (2001-2003).
Daugherty's music has been recorded by Naxos, Nonesuch, Sony, and various other labels. His music is published by Boosey and Hawkes and Peermusic Classical.
