Biography
Violist Daniel Doña has distinguished himself as an active international performer and pedagogue. His collaborations with musicians from multiple traditions has led him to explore the beauty of a polystylistic musical space, gaining praise for being “especially at home in this harmonic world” (San Francisco Classical Voice). He serves on the viola faculty of the Boston University School of Music alongside his duties as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Coordinator of String Chamber Music. Daniel is also Co-Director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute String Quartet Workshop. In addition to his teaching at BU, Dr. Doña serves on the faculty of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra Intensive Community Program. Equally at home as a researcher and scholar he regularly writes program notes for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood, Caramoor Center for the Arts and other concert presenters. His notes have gained praise for being “lucid and erudite” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). An avid chamber musician, he is a member of TriChrome, BiND Ensemble, Susie Ibarra’s Fragility Ensemble, and the critically acclaimed Arneis Quartet.
Recent and upcoming performance highlights include appearances at Composers Now Dialogues Series (hosted by Tania León), the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum, and MaerzMusik in Berlin. As part of Filipina-American composer and percussionist Susie Ibarra’s Fragility Ensemble he has performed at the Asia Society Triennial, MassMoCA, and at the Joudour Sahara Festival, where he collaborated with musicians from Ghana, Mali, and Morocco. Daniel is featured on composer Ketty Nez’s CD Double Images. He performs regularly with Emmanuel Music and other ensembles in the Boston area. Daniel has presented guest masterclasses at the American String Teachers Association National Conference, Central Washington University, University of Connecticut, Swarthmore College, and Miami University.
Daniel pursues interdisciplinary projects with a passion. As a recipient of a Humanities Enhancement Project Award from the Boston University Center for the Humanities he curated concerts exploring relationships between poetry and music accompanied by lectures presented by members of the BU and Harvard English Departments. As a member of the Banff Festival Quartet he performed in collaboration with dancers, presenting Hans van Manen's Grosse Fuge and a world premiere of Heather Myersʼs Dedications. His META fellowship with the Mass Cultural Council focused on exploring connections between mindfulness practice and music pedagogy and performance. As part of the initial cohort of BU’s Designing Antiracist Curricula Fellowship program he deepened his exploration of incorporating repertoire of underrepresented composers into the School of Music curriculum.
Dr. Doña received his AB in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, where he was awarded the inaugural David Fulton Award for excellence in instrumental performance. He received his MM in Viola Performance from the University of Oklahoma where he studied with Matthew Dane (viola) and Felicia Moye (violin). At Boston University he studied with Michelle LaCourse, Steven Ansell and Ed Gazouleas. He received his PD and DMA from BU and was a two-time recipient of the String Department Award and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda.
In his spare time Daniel enjoys traveling with his husband Scott, which sometimes includes finding exotic places to run races and always involves the pursuit of culinary adventures. He ran the Berlin Marathon on his honeymoon and has also completed the NYC and Chicago Marathons. Bookstores are his Achilles heel.