Daniel Paul Davis

1953 - 2022

Daniel Paul Davis



Daniel Paul

Davis, aged 68,

passed away

after a brief illness at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 29th,

2022. Daniel was born in Springfield, Ohio, to Kirby Neal and Bonnie Beth (Huffer) Davis on October 1, 1953, the second of their four children. He grew up surrounded by family in Wenatchee Washington, where he began his violin studies with Carol McManus in the fourth grade. Daniel began composing music in high school and went on to study at the Wenatchee Valley Community College and the University of Washington in Seattle, where he completed both his undergraduate and master's degrees in music composition. During high school and college Daniel studied the violin with Camilla Wicks and played in the violin section of the Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra.

Since he possessed a fine tenor voice, his composition teacher made him audition for the role of Snoopy in the Wenatchee Valley Community College production of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" under the direction of Richard Lapo. This was quite an achievement for Daniel, an introvert. He performed quite memorably with the support and guidance of Mr. Lapo, and credits this experience with giving him the confidence to teach classes of music theory and music appreciation at the college level.

Daniel studied music composition with Paul Tufts and William Bergsma, and music improvisation with Stuart Dempster while a student at The University of Washington in Seattle. While still an undergraduate he wrote a string orchestra piece that was performed by the Seattle Symphony. It was at the University of Washington where he met a theater student named Susan Pearson, with whom he collaborated on theatrical works and later married. In 1982 they moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Susan was hired as a faculty member at the University of New Mexico's Department of Theater and Dance. Daniel's compositional focus turned to writing music for productions in those departments, which led to working as a sound designer and composer for the New Mexico Repertory Theater in Santa Fe and the Albuquerque Little Theater. He composed original music, did sound design and performed as a violinist for many productions,

including "The

Crucible",

"A Christmas

Carol",

"Frida Kahlo,

Portrait of a

Woman" and "Dia de Visitaciones". Daniel also wrote original music

for several episodes of KNME TV's "Colores"

series. He began teaching music theory and music appreciation at the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College in the 1990's, and conducted both the UNM Valencia and Symphony Orchestra of

Albuquerque choirs.

Daniel returned to composing concert music after the dissolution of his first marriage, writing for whatever instrument, group of instruments or voices that caught his imagination. His curiosity about music from other traditions led him to learn how to play gamelan music and sing shape note hymns. Daniel was unafraid to write for whatever instruments he found interesting, always learning as much as possible about them. In 2005 he heard a bassoon ensemble in Albuquerque called the Bosque Bassoon Band, and loved the sound of the group so much that he wrote an original piece for the group in 2006, continuing to compose and arrange pieces for that ensemble until his final illness. Daniel gave freely of his skills as a music leader for many years at Albuquerque Mennonite Church, where he led singing, played the violin and viola, wrote hymns. arranged music and created multi track videos for the church's use during the pandemic, when service were were done virtually.

Daniel was preceded in death by his parents, Kirby and Bonnie Davis, and leaves behind his wife, Stefanie Przybylska, his siblings, Aaron Davis (D'Lynn), Bethany Davis Burbank (Errol) and Carolyn Davis Rickman (Trent), and many beloved cousins, nieces and nephews. A memorial service will take place on October 30th at 5:00 PM at Albuquerque Mennonite Church, 1300 Girard Blvd NE, Albuquerque, and a concert of his music will take place on November 14th at 5:00 PM at St John's Methodist Church, located at 2626 Arizona NE, in Albuquerque. Zoom links to these events may be made available by writing to alphabet@cybermesa.com. In lieu of lowers, please consider sending donations to the Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra (wenatcheesymphony.org) and/or The

Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra (abqphil.org).