By Dan Visconti
I am sure there are many people whose first encounters with contemporary music were not difficult at all, but I was not one of them; that kind of wonder and excitement of new sonic possibilities kicked in only gradually for me, and it was not until I was an older teen that I had really developed a taste for the music of our own time.

By Dan Visconti
What distinguishes an “author” from all others is not necessarily superior creative ability or technique, but rather an ability to value something that others might have considered too insignificant.

By Dan Visconti
Every time I finish a composition I can’t help but feel a little bit let down, no matter how the piece itself turned out.

By Dan Visconti
Origami succeeds in representing at least one aspect of music composition that both painting and sculpting analogies fail to capture: a sense that our materials by and large are already there, hovering in the ether of both history and current cultural zeitgeist, ready to be received by the composer and modified into a (not entirely) new work that might find itself raw material for more new works down the road.

By Dan Visconti
There really are times when just walking away (for a while, at least) can be one of the composer’s best options.

By Dan Visconti
I’ve been discussing a future collaboration with a massed string group drawn from students of various experience levels, placing technically adept players alongside absolute beginners.

By Dan Visconti

I think the thing I enjoy most about studying music is the way that minor mysteries of ignorance have a habit of giving way to deeper, more substantive mysteries.

By Dan Visconti

In my own composing efforts as well I’ve found it useful to consider my musical priorities which, if lacking, would cause the whole effort to cease being worthwhile.

I count my experiences composing for youth orchestras to be among those that best prepared me for making the transition from student to young professional.

Since all music occupies time, it is certainly fair and useful to regard that block of time post facto, in its entirety, and consider the ways in which that duration is divided and proportioned.