Daniel Moe, conductor emeritus of Key Chorale and composer in residence at Church of the Redeemer, died in Sarasota on Thursday after a long illness. He was 85.
His published musical works include the Cantata for Peace, which was performed in 1993 at the opening Mass for World Youth Day in Denver, celebrating the visit of Pope John Paul II.
Moe taught at the University of Iowa and then at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music for 20 years before his retirement to Sarasota in 1992. During 40 years of choral conducting, he took choruses to Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center.
Born in Fargo, N.D., Moe exhibited musical talent at an early age, singing in church choirs and playing clarinet starting in the fifth grade.
He conducted his first concert in the sixth grade. His ability on saxophone and clarinet earned him a spot in the Naval Air Corps band during his military service from 1944 to 1946.
Following in the steps of his Lutheran minister father, he went to Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., to become a minister, but flunked Greek and turned to music.
Upon graduation, he was given an award for “the person who they think is going to make the biggest contribution to music,” said his second wife, Ann Stephenson-Moe. “They gave it to Daniel Moe, who was not a music major.”
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