About Me

Dr. Daniel Gallagher is a professional flutist and teacher currently based in Dallas, Texas. Originally from Yorkville, Illinois, Daniel holds performance degrees from The Ohio State University (Doctor of Musical Arts), Illinois State University (Master of Music), and Luther College (Bachelor of Arts). He has performed across the United States and internationally as an orchestral musician, soloist, chamber musician, and competition winner.

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With 10 years of teaching experience, Daniel has worked with students ranging from 9 to 70 years old, and his recent students have been accepted into collegiate music programs. As Graduate Teaching Associate of the flute studio at OSU, Daniel taught flute lessons and Buckeye Flutes, a flute choir course for music minors and nonmajors. He conducted flute choir performances across the OSU campus and for the Central Ohio Flute Association's annual festival. Additionally, Daniel has coached flute sections for OMEA district orchestras and taught chamber music at the OSU Flute Workshop and the Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival. He has also been invited to participate in public school outreach programs.

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Daniel has presented masterclasses, composer workshops, and lectures on piccolo, teaching beginning flute, and extended techniques at several universities. In 2015, he was invited to premiere flute chamber music works by Philip Wharton and Steve Smith for Music in the Shape of a Pear, a new music series at Luther College. An advocate for new flute music, Daniel has commissioned works by composers such as Kimberly Osberg, Zachary Friedland, and Dan Fernelius.

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As a competitor, Daniel qualified as a semifinalist three years in a row for the National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition and won Third Prize in 2018. Previous awards include First Place in the Central Ohio Flute Association's Young Artist Competition and winning both the band and orchestra concerto competitions at Illinois State. In 2015, he was runner-up for the Rockford Symphony Orchestra's second flute position and has since qualified as a finalist and semifinalist in recent orchestral auditions.

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Daniel's orchestral experience includes yearly tours across the USA with the Luther College Symphony Orchestra and a month-long residency in Vienna, Austria, where he performed as principal flutist in venues such as Kulturzentrum Oberschützen, Stockerau Concert Hall, and the esteemed Wiener Konzerthaus. He has performed as substitute principal flute with the Westerville Symphony, Opera Project Columbus, and other groups. He has appeared as guest soloist with the Lancaster Festival Orchestra and has also been invited to play flute and piccolo for the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Rockford Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, he appeared on the televised, Emmy-nominated Christmas at Luther production on PBS.

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A versatile musician, Daniel has initiated interdisciplinary collaborations with film and dance and regularly performs chamber music. Most recently, he performed with the Timbre Woodwind Quintet, which preceded performances by the Berlin Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet for a Chamber Music Columbus concert. As a member of the OSU Flute Troupe, Daniel performed for the 2018 OMEA convention, the 2017 NFA convention, and other venues. He has also performed with the OSU Wind Symphony, ISU Wind Symphony, and Fox Valley Concert Band. He can be heard in recordings with the ISU Wind Symphony under the Klavier and Naxos labels.

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Daniel’s DMA research document, “Flute Repertoire from Japan: An Analysis of Twentieth-Century Flute Sonatas by Ikuma Dan, Hikaru Hayashi, and Akira Tamba,” includes a list of hundreds of flute works by over 200 Japanese composers to promote diversification of the standard flute repertoire. Daniel is constantly exploring this music, and he presented a lecture-recital on works by Ikuma Dan, Makoto Moroi, and Jun-ichiro Taku at the 2019 Chicago Flute Club Festival. Future recording plans are in the works.

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Some of Daniel's academic awards include a Luther College research grant to attend the Andover Educators Biennial Conference in 2013, a competitive University Fellowship to fund his doctoral studies, and the OSU Graduate Achievement Award in Brass, Woodwind, and Percussion. Daniel is currently a member of the National Flute Association, Texas Flute Society, Chicago Flute Club, and academic honor societies such as Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Kappa Lambda. Additionally, he served as president of COFA for two years and worked as a Graduate Associate in music recording at Illinois State University.

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Daniel’s principal teachers include Katherine Borst Jones, Kimberly Risinger, Carol Hester, and Melanie Mathew, with additional studies from Lorie Scott and Bethany Padgett. He has performed in masterclasses for Ian Clarke, Alexa Still, Marianne Gedigian, Aaron Goldman, Roma Duncan, Dionne Jackson, and many others. His special interests include video game music, Japanese flute repertoire, piccolo, low flutes, 20th-century solo flute music, and new music.

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