Dan Locklair

He is often noted for his sacred music, but has also composed many secular works.

Locklair was born on August 7, 1949 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Locklair was a professional organist by age 14.

Locklair is a lifelong pipe smoker and noted collector of pipes. He is also an avid swimmer.

Locklair is a graduate of Mars Hill University. He has a Master of Sacred Music degree from the School of Sacred Music of Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music.

Locklair is a composer, organist, conductor, and Professor of Music. He has been based at Wake Forest University as Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music since 1982. Prior to Wake Forest, Locklair was Organist/Choirmaster at First Presbyterian Church in Binghamton, NY and Instructor of Music at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. His works are performed in the United States and throughout the world, including in England, Canada, Germany, France, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Korea, Japan, South Africa, Finland and Russia. "Locklair's music has been premiered and/or performed by such ensembles as the Helsinki (Finland) and Buffalo Philharmonics, the Saint Louis, North Carolina, Kansas City, Omaha, Winston-Salem, Western Piedmont and Salisbury (NC) Symphonies, The Louisville Orchestra, the Gregg Smith Singers, the BBC Singers, the Choir of Royal Holloway (UK), the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys (NY City), the Cathedral Choral Society (Washington, DC), the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Elmer Iseler Singers of Toronto, the Chicago Ensemble and The Oxford Players (UK), as well as by harpsichordists Igor Kipnis and Jukka Tiensuu, and numerous organists, including Marilyn Keiser, John Scott and Thomas Trotter." Quentin Faulkner, Associate of the American Guild of Organists, has described Locklair's musical style as "eclectic, rejecting dogmatic adherence to stylistic purity, and cultivating engaging melodic gestures, piquant colors, and striking sonorities" His style has been influenced by Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, and Benjamin Britten. He first came to US national attention when his piece Constellations: A Concerto for Organ and One Percussion Player (1980) was chosen as one of the finalists for the 1981 Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards. One of Locklair's pieces, The Peace may be exchanged (from Rubrics), was performed at the funeral service for former President Ronald Reagan at the Washington National Cathedral. It has also been performed at the funerals of President George H.W. Bush and US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. It was also performed as a part of the ceremonies surrounding President Barack Obama's Inauguration weekend. As a professor at Wake Forest University, Locklair has taught Composition and Orchestration, as well as Introduction to Western Music and Music Theory.