David Dies

Dr. David Dies is a composer and music theorist. As a composer, his most recent major work was an oboe concerto for Adam de Sorgo and ensemblenewSRQ in 2018 which was the ensemble's first commission. He current and immediate future projects include a set of four songs on poetry by the Colombian poet Lucía Estrada, a one-hour song cycle on El Diván del Tamarit by Federico García Lorca for the tenor James Kryshak, and an extended work for mezzo and string quartet for the mezzosoprano Clara Osowksi.

His music has been described as having a "sensitivity to subtle shades of timbre, exploitation of spare textures...and predilection for a certain ceremonial austerity that evokes ancient, remote, or hieratic ritual” (American Record Guide on Dies' 2011 Albany records CD, agevolmente). His music has also been described as “sometimes dissonant, sometimes lyrical, and always hugely inventive” (Wisconsin State Journal on Sketches for String Orchestra).

Dr. Dies's chapter "Defining 'Spiritual Minimalism'" appears in The Ashgate Research Companion to Minimalist and Postminimalist Music and has been cited extensively since publication.