About

Dan Powers found his way into music by way of an early love of newspaper comic strips. When he noticed that a character in a highly popular strip kept mentioning someone named Beethoven, he had to ask his parents who Beethoven was. After correcting his pronunciation, they explained who Beethoven was and what he did, and for some reason he decided he wanted to do that too.

Keyboard lessons followed, then violin. He began composing as soon as he could read music well enough. His formal education continued at Oberlin (where he studied composition with Joseph Wood and switched his instrument to viola), then Indiana University (where he studied with Earle Brown, Fred Fox, and Harvey Sollberger). In the professional world, he was assistant principal violist in the Terre Haute Symphony for 36 years, and also taught composition and music theory at Indiana State University.

He has fulfilled commissions from the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Louisville Saxophone Quartet, Galan Trio, and other groups and individuals. He has also written arrangements and orchestrations for everything from internationally renowned soloists to intermediate level student groups. His varied career has also included writing program notes for several orchestras and working as a copyist/engraver for other composers and publishers.

He is fortunate enough to be married to a wonderful pianist named Martha Krasnican. They have two dogs, a cat, and way too many books.

Since May 2023, he is retired from gainful employment, and plans to spend as much time composing as possible. He still reads the comics every day.