Dan Forrest Awarded the 2027 Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission

Dan Forrest has been awarded the 2027 Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission which will premier at the 2027 ACDA National Conference in Minneapolis, MN in March of 2027.

Receiving the Brock Commission is an extraordinary achievement for any composer but there is something profoundly meaningful about this full-circle moment. In 2005, Dan Forrest was recognized with the Raymond Brock Prize for Student Composers for his work Selah—an early affirmation of a promising voice. Now, a little more than 20 years later, he returns to the ACDA stage as the recipient of the Raymond Brock Memorial Commission, our association’s most prestigious honor for composers. For the first time, a student prize recipient has grown into a composer whose artistry, impact, and leadership merit this highest recognition. Dan’s journey reflects not only his extraordinary talent, but also the enduring vision of the Brock legacy: to celebrate choral composition at every stage of professional life. This moment is both a celebration of Dan’s remarkable career and a powerful testament to the importance of investing in the next generation.

Be sure to listen to the March ACDA Podcast (released next week) to hear from Dan about his journey to this moment and thoughts about his craft. If you are attending the 2026 Southern Region Conference in Memphis this week, you’ll also be able to find Dan on site at the Beckenhorst Press booth to congratulate him.

Dr. Dan Forrest (b. 1978) is widely recognized as one of the leading American choral composers of our time. He has been described as having “an undoubted gift for writing beautiful music….that is truly magical” (NY Concert Review), with works hailed as “magnificent, very cleverly constructed sound sculpture” (Classical Voice), and  “superb writing…full of spine-tingling moments” (Salt Lake Tribune). Dan’s music spans a wide spectrum of genres and difficulty, ranging from extended major works for chorus and orchestra and significant concert choral repertoire to more accessible works for church and community choirs, as well as instrumental works ranging from wind ensemble pieces to solo instrumental sonatas.

Dr. Forrest’s work has become well established in the choral repertoire in the U.S. and around the world, and has received numerous awards and distinctions including the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Award, the ACDA Raymond Brock Student Award, the ALCM Raabe Prize, and many others. His choral works have been recorded by professional choirs including Seraphic Fire and VOCES8, have been performed on the BBC Proms (2019 and 2025) and numerous national US radio and TV broadcasts, and are regularly performed in choral festivals in the halls of major cities around the world. 

Dan’s international events have included concerts with choirs from the Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, Italy, and many others. His major works have become standard choral/orchestral repertoire for ensembles around the world, with Requiem for the Living (2013) receiving over 1000 performances around the world in its first decade. His other extended works, including his CREATION oratorio (2023), have been similarly acclaimed.

Dan is highly active in the music publishing industry, with contributions in the catalogs of a dozen publishers. He currently publishes his concert choral music through his own company, The Music of Dan Forrest (distributed by Beckenhorst Press), and his church choral anthems with Beckenhorst Press (where he serves as Vice President of Publications and Editor). 

Dr. Forrest is a past Chair of the National ACDA Composition Committee, and spends significant time mentoring and supporting other composers, leading the John Ness Beck Foundation Choral Composer’s Workshop and his new Forrest Fellows initiative, his intensive editing work at Beckenhorst Press, and numerous other teaching and mentoring opportunities. He keeps a full schedule of commissions, workshops, recordings, contest adjudication, and residencies with universities, churches, community and professional ensembles where he collaborates as accompanist, presents his music, and teaches composition and music theory. Dan also serves as Composer-in-Residence at Furman University and Artist-in-Residence and pianist at Mitchell Road Presbyterian in Greenville, SC.

Dan holds a doctorate in composition from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in piano performance, and is a Fellow of Melodious Accord. His higher education background includes several years as a professor and department head (music theory and composition). Dan professes lifelong gratitude for the teachers that helped shape his musicality: James Barnes (doctoral advisor), Alice Parker (multiple fellowships with Melodious Accord), Joan Pinkston and Dwight Gustafson (college composition teachers), and Frances McLaren and Joanne Snyder (childhood piano and music teachers).

When not creating music, Dan can be found spending time with his wife and three kids, maintaining his extensive landscape gardens, playing Irish traditional music on the concertina and accordion, and participating in his supportive church community.

More information about Dan and his work can be found at www.danforrest.com.

About the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission:

The Raymond W. Brock Memorial Choral Series was established in 1991 to honor the life and contributions of Raymond W. Brock, who served as administrative assistant for ACDA from 1987 until his untimely death in 1991. Annually, the ACDA Executive Committee, with input from the National Composition Standing Committee, commissions a recognized composer to write a choral composition in an effort to perpetuate quality choral repertoire. Funds for this commission are paid from the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Endowment. This is an annual award.

About the Brock Prize for Student Composers:

To further its mission to promote choral music and ensure its future, ACDA established the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Competition in 1998. The objectives of the contest are to acknowledge and reward outstanding high school, undergraduate and graduate student composers, to encourage choral composition of the highest caliber, and to further promote student activity at ACDA conferences. This is a biannual award. Applications are accepted in odd-numbered years for performance in the even-numbered years at the ACDA Region Conferences.