Dan Cavanagh is a composer and pianist who has garnered numerous awards in both areas. In 2023 he was awarded the Social Justice Prize in Wind Ensemble Composition as well as 2nd Prize in the American Prize for Composition in the Wind Symphony/Band Category. He received a 2009 gold medal prize from the International Music Prize for Excellence in Composition, and in 2017 he was awarded a Special Judges’ Citation in the American Prize for Chamber Music Composition. As a composer Cavanagh has been commissioned to write for Latin Grammy-winning AfroBop Alliance, the legendary Patti LaBelle, and a wide range of classical and jazz performers across North America and Europe. He has released five jazz recordings as a leader, including Pulse and Heart of the Geyser on Seattle’s OA2 Records, and two recordings with Minnesota-based vibraphonist Dave Hagedorn, Horizon and 20 Years. His most recent recording with James Miley and John Hollenbeck was released on Japan’s S/N Alliance Records in November 2022 to critical acclaim. His music can be heard on many other recordings both classical and jazz. His film scoring work can be heard in the documentary The Beat Hotel, a film exploring the hotel in Paris in the late 1950s and early 1960s where the beat poets, led by Allen Ginsberg, lived and created much of their famous work. Dave Hagedorn is an Artist in Residence at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he teaches percussion, jazz studies, and world music. St. Olaf Jazz I won the DownBeat magazine award for best undergraduate college large jazz ensemble in 2011. Hagedorn holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and the University of Minnesota. He has a duo album, Horizons, with pianist Dan Cavanagh, released in 2010, and a trio recording, Solid/Liquid on the artegra label in SACD format released in October of 2003. He has recorded with Brian Setzer, on the 2009 release Songs from the Lonely Avenue, the George Russell Living Time Orchestra on Blue Note Recordings (“The African Game,” nominated for a Grammy® award), jazz singer Debbie Duncan on Igmod Recordings, and also with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra on Teldec Recordings.
