Daniel McDavitt

Dr. Daniel McDavitt is Director of Cadet Vocal Music at the United States Coast Guard Academy,
where he oversees a vocal music program that includes four choral ensembles, a robust touring
schedule, and a yearly musical production. He was also recently appointed Director of the Eastern
Connecticut Symphony Chorus, an ensemble specializing in the performance of major choral
works of both historical and modern composers. Previous to these appointments, he was
associate professor of music and director of the Goucher College Choirs and Orchestra, director
of choral studies at Loyola University Maryland, and acting director of choirs at Knox College.

An award-winning composer and educator, Dr. McDavitt’s compositions and arrangements have
been performed and broadcast throughout the United States and abroad. His music is published
by Walton Music, E. C. Schirmer Publishing, Gentry Publications, and Jackman Music, along with
a number of self-published works. He has received a commission from the Barlow Endowment
for Music Composition, won first prize in the Magnum Opus Composition Competition, and
regularly accepts commissions from community, university, and school choral ensembles from
around the country. He has also received numerous grants for music research and to promote
new works by living composers. In 2017, he was honored with the Excellence in Teaching Award
at Goucher College, and has presented his research multiple times at the Oxford Conducting
Institute at St. Anne’s College at the University of Oxford (UK).

Born and raised in Missouri, he holds a bachelor of arts degree in music and humanities and a
master of music degree in choral conducting from Brigham Young University, and a doctor of
musical arts degree in choral conducting and literature, with a minor in theory/composition,
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. McDavitt is a member of the American Choral Directors Association and the National
Collegiate Choral Organization, where he serves on the national board, as well as the College
Music Society, and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).
He lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut, with his wife, writer and photographer Jenika Beck McDavitt,
and their two children.