Carl Fischer Music Publishing

David Carlson has composed in many genres including orchestral music, chamber music, and opera. His works have been performed by many of the country's leading orchestras and chamber ensembles. A recipient of a number of awards and honors, he has received two grants from Meet the Composer and commissions from Chamber Music America, the a cappella vocal group Chanticleer and opera companies in New York, Utah, California and Florida. In 1995 he was given an Academy Award in composition by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Carlson's operas have received international acclaim and numerous performances. The Midnight Angel, with a libretto by Peter S. Beagle, received its premiere in 1993 by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. It was performed by Glimmerglass Opera in New York and by the Sacramento Opera, who, along with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, co-commissioned the work. Carlson's next opera, Dreamkeepers, commissioned by the Utah Opera in 1996 in celebration of the state's centennial, is a story about the Ute Indians, with a libretto by Alden Ross. It premiered in 1996 and was revised in 1998 for a production by the Tulsa Opera. Dreamkeepers was featured at the International Theatre Institute's 1998 conference-the only opera chosen to represent the United States. Carlson has adapted material from Dreamkeepers into two orchestral works, Symphonic Sequences and Bear Dance on Ute Indian Rhythms, which was tremendously successful in a series of children's performances at the San Francisco Symphony.

Among Carlson's orchestral works, Rhapsodies, which was first performed in 1987 as a part of the San Francisco Symphony's acclaimed New and Unusual Music Series, has since been performed by many ensembles such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony and the BBC Orchestra. Under Music Director Herbert Blomstedt, the San Francisco Symphony repeated the work several times in its Davies Symphony Hall subscription programs and featured it on the 1990 West Coast tour.

The recent Cello Concerto No. 2, for fifteen strings and cello (a hybrid of chamber music and orchestral concerto form), was commissioned and premiered by the New Century Chamber Orchestra. His Cello Concerto No. 1 was the winner of the Santa Fe Symphony's national New Music Competition in 1989 and is featured on his first orchestral recording. Both concertos were premiered by cellist Emil Miland. Carlson's Quixotic Variations won the Omaha Symphony's International New Music Competition in 1979. His Violin Concerto was commissioned and premiered by San Francisco's Artea Chamber Orchestra. The San Francisco Symphony commissioned a work for large orchestra, Twilight Night, which was premiered by the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra under Leif Bjaland in 1989. Twilight Night has since been performed by several American orchestras, including the Atlanta Symphony under Yoel Levi and the Chicago Civic Orchestra under Daneil Barenboim.

Carlson's non-operatic vocal works include Nocturno for cello and eight-part male ensemble, commissioned by the acclaimed vocal group Chanticleer and premiered in 1990 (an expanded version was performed by the Santa Fe Symphony and Chorus in 1991) and Constellations, a cantata with original text by Susan Kinsolving, commissioned by Glimmerglass Opera for its 25th anniversary and premiered in 2000. Carlson was one of a select group of composers commissioned by Glimmerglass for a Fanfare to be played in rotation for the openings of the operas.

One of Carlson's recent chamber works, Quantum Quartet, for clarinet, viola, cello and piano, was commissioned by Meet the Composer and was premiered by the Park City International Music Festival in 1999. He has recently completed his third commission from Meet the Composer, Absolute Music, for the San Francisco Saxophone Quartet. A piece for organ, Resurrection, was premiered by Dr. Frederick Tulan at Westminster Abbey and performed again by him in Paris and London; the work has been played in the U.S. by noted organist Joyce Jones. His Cello Sonata, commissioned by Chamber Music America, was premiered by Emil Miland and pianist Robin Sutherland in 1993.

New World Records has released a recording of four of Carlson's orchestral works: Symphonic Sequences from Dreamkeepers, Cello Concerto No. 1, Rhapsodies and Twilight Night, featuring Stewart Robertson and the Utah Symphony.