Omar Daniel (b. 1960) has composed extensively in solo, chamber, electronic and orchestral idioms, and was the 1997 recipient of the Jules Lèger Award for New Chamber Music. Other composition awards include the 2007 K. M. Hunter Arts Award, the SOCAN National Competition for Young Composers and the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Composers. He is also an active pedagogue, and holds the position of Associate Professor in Composition at Western University. Daniel’s music is characterised by a strong sense of drama (in the Aristotelian sense, which perhaps categorizes him as a classicist). His style is firmly rooted in the European concert-music tradition, and exhibits a broad palette of instrumental colour, intricate harmonic language, a strong rhythmic profile and rigorous architectural design.

Daniel grew up in Toronto, his parents were refugees from Estonia. Daniel’s childhood and youth were spent mostly studying STEM related subjects. But there was a piano in the family home and was a way into the rich world of classical literature. Daniel was also keenly interested in popular music, co-founding the Richmond Hill/Toronto rock band Spectrum (not to be confused with the highly successful Australian band founded in 1969, or the even more successful British band formed in 1991). He has obtained a Bachelor of Music in Theory and Composition from the University of Toronto in 1983, having been studied with all the notable composition/theory icons of the day: John Beckwith, Lothar Klein, Walter Buczynski, John Weinzweig, Gus Ciamaga, Derek Holman, Edward Laufer, John Hawkins and John Kruspe, and piano with Clifford Poole, whose wisdom made a great impression. In the mid 1980’s Daniel studied with Alexander Goehr in England. Upon returning to Canada, Daniel began a PhD in Composition at the University of Toronto, studying with John Beckwith and Lothar Klein. With composition and performance colleagues at UofT he founded the new music group Continuum as a way of creating performance opportunities. The group came to the attention of the singular David Jaeger, who agreed to record several concerts for radio broadcast. Daniel cites his ongoing relationship with CBC radio, and David Jaeger in particular, with any compositional success he had during his formative years and indeed to this day. Slowly, opportunities for commissions arose with key presenters taking a chance on Daniel: Eli Kassner and the Guitar Society of Toronto, Alex Pauk and Esprit Orchestra, Bob Aitken and New Music Concerts, Kazuyoshi Akiyama and The National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Lawrence Cherney and Soundstreams, Vincent Ho and The Land’s End Ensemble, Wayne Strongman and Tapestry Opera, and his wife Erika Raum, for whom he has had the privilege of writing many violin works. 

Daniel’s Estonian heritage is evident in his recent compositional interest: the integration of ancient Estonian folk songs (regilaulud) into his compositions. This has resulted in a number of important compositions: Metsa Maasikad (Wild Strawberries), Mehetapja (The Husband Killer) Üheksa Eesti Regilaulu (Eight Estonian Runo-songs), Violin Concerto and Mehetapja Meeli Unistus (The Husband Killer’s Dream). His choral work, Sõduri Ema (Soldier’s Mother) was written for the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (commissioned by Soundstreams), and he is currently working on the opera Mehetapja (The Husband Killer) based on an Estonian folk tale. His creativity extends to electroacoustic music as well. His innovative, disconcerting (and physically risky) The Flaying of Marsyas has been performed many times by Daniel and Erika Raum since its creation in 2001, and his Annunciation for string quartet and electronics has been performed over twenty times by the Penderecki String Quartet in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. In the spring of 2016 his new work for Theremin, Hammond organ and string quartet was premièred by Theremin virtuoso Carolina Eyck.