He has twice been awarded the Forum’s Faith Partners residency, during which time he collaborated with consortia of congregations in the creation of twelve new liturgical works. He has been commissioned by many varied organizations such as The Arizona Master Chorale, The Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester, The Minnesota Opera (for whom he wrote a 20-minute opera about alien invasion with a group of fourth-graders), MUSE Women’s Choir, Shawn Womack Dance Projects, The Venere Lute Quartet, and the Cheng-Gong High School Choir in Taiwan.

David lives in Minneapolis under the name David Ostenso Moore. He loves fresh bread, a good cup of tea, the work of Andy Goldsworthy, U-Ram Choe, the books of Edward Gorey, and walking in the woods with his beautiful wife Anna.

Meet J. David Moore

BIOGRAPHY

J. David Moore (b. 1962) has been in love with a cappella singing and the romance of word and melody ever since high school. Since then, he has written hundreds of arrangements of vocal jazz, spirituals, barbershop quartet, Celtic mouth music, Civil Rights marching songs, early American hymn tunes, sixteenth-century madrigals, and folk music in Ukrainian, Gaelic, Austrian, Brazilian Portuguese, French, and Latin. His own compositions are shaped by his voracious appetite for music of every era and style. He has written art song, oratorios, music for percussion ensemble, string quartet, wind ensemble, baroque orchestra, and tuned wine glasses. He has written music for worship, dance, and the stage, including the outdoor spectacle Solstice River, performed on the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis every summer from 1997–2015.

David is the founder and music director of the First Readings Project, a chamber choir that acts as a resource for composers in the development of new work.

He has won numerous grants, awards, and residencies from many organizations such as ASCAP, the Jerome Foundation, the American Composers Forum, and was the recipient of the 2001 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians, along with his a cappella group Dare To Breathe.

He has twice been awarded the Forum’s Faith Partners residency, during which time he collaborated with consortia of congregations in the creation of twelve new liturgical works. He has been commissioned by many varied organizations such as The Arizona Master Chorale, The Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester, The Minnesota Opera (for whom he wrote a 20-minute opera about alien invasion with a group of fourth-graders), MUSE Women’s Choir, Shawn Womack Dance Projects, The Venere Lute Quartet, and the Cheng-Gong High School Choir in Taiwan.

David lives in Minneapolis under the name David Ostenso Moore. He loves fresh bread, a good cup of tea, the work of Andy Goldsworthy, U-Ram Choe, the books of Edward Gorey, and walking in the woods with his beautiful wife Anna.

Brief Biography

J. David Moore is a composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, and Southerner who has lived in the Upper Midwest for most of his life. His music has been called “endlessly inventive,” “glorious…haunting… breathtaking,” and “joyous…wild and elemental.” He publishes through his company Fresh Ayre Music.

He lives with his beautiful wife Anna in Minneapolis, where he makes pie, drinks tea, and is distracted by shiny objects.