Daniel Kellogg is only 33, but already he has composed a remarkable number of varied works and received prestigious commissions performed by major orchestras. A Young Concert Artists composer in residence during 2002, his many other honors include six ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Awards, two Charles Ives Awards and residencies at the University of Connecticut and with the South Dakota and Green Bay symphonies.
This week, the National Symphony Orchestra will perform “Western Skies,” Kellogg’s third commission for them. It will also be featured on the NSO summer tour of China and Korea.
“When I learned that they would perform it in Asia, I shelved what I’d been working on and decided to write something very American,” he says. “It’s based on the Colorado landscape where I live on the cusp of a range between the plans and the mountains. The first movement, ‘Expanse,’ is about the openness of the plains. I wanted to capture the vastness and desolate quality and the harshness of the violent winds that come down from the mountains during winter in horizontal brown clouds.
“The second movement, ‘Moonbeams in the Snow,’ was inspired by the sight of the brilliant moon against the snow and the utter stillness all around. The third movement, ‘White Mountains on the Horizon,’ celebrates the Rocky Mountains.”
The relationship between Kellogg and the NSO began with a strong recommendation from key members of the organization attending the debut performance of “Ben,” his Philadelphia Orchestra commission commemorating the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin.
“I attended Yale where the Franklin Papers are housed, so I went through them and learned that he loved folk music and drinking songs, heard Handel’s oratorios while he lived in London and invented the glass harmonica,” Kellogg says. “He traveled back and forth to England, so I felt it was important to also incorporate a seascape in the celebration of his life.”
Currently an assistant professor of music at the University of Colorado in Boulder, he received his bachelor of music degree from Curtis Institute and his master of music and doctorate of musical arts from Yale University. He credits his many and diverse teachers — among them Jennifer Higdon, Chris Brubeck, Ned Rorem and Joseph Schwantner — with encouragement to keep evolving and changing to stay fresh.
If you go
The National Symphony Orchestra, Ivan Fischer conductor, performs Daniel Kellogg’s “Western Skies” other works by Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky.
Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Info: $20 to $78; 202-467-4600; 800-444-1324; kennedy-center.org
