Daniel Taborda (b. 1990) is a Colombian-born composer currently residing in China. His compositions uniquely fuse his Latin American heritage with the language of contemporary classical music, showcasing a remarkable versatility across various levels, genres, styles, and instrumentations. Beyond classical compositions, Taborda is adept at creating electroacoustic music, EDM, and popular music genres.
Daniel earned his bachelor’s in music composition from Universidad EAFIT in Medellin, Colombia, in 2014, under the tutelage of the esteemed Italian composer Marco Alunno. During his time in Colombia, he served as the music director in two municipalities, Gomez Plata and Urrao, where he taught music to individuals of all ages and directed diverse ensembles.
His notable achievements include multiple composition prizes, such as the "Antioquia Vive la Música" (2009), the music composition contest for wind band for the virtual bank of music (2012), and the second place in the national contest of unpublished Colombian Music in San Pedro – Valle del Cauca (2014). Daniel's piece "Transfiguración" earned a special honorable mention from the Colombian Ministry of Culture in 2014, and he secured the prestigious national prize of composition from the same institution in the same year.
Daniel pursued two master’s degrees from Oklahoma City University Bass School of Music, studying composition with Edward Knight and conducting with Eric Garcia. He served as the 2015-2016 Oklahoma Youth Orchestras (OYO) Composer-in-Residence and took on various roles, including saxophonist, assistant conductor, and adjudicator during his time at OCU.
His work "Iris" for wind band was published in Europe in 2018, and Daniel explored conducting studies in Europe at institutions like Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Codarts and Fontys University (The Netherlands), and Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland). In June 2019, his piece "Fansaxo" premiered in Asia by the Hong Kong Tak Ming Philharmonic Winds.
In 2019, Daniel moved to Arizona to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts in composition at Arizona State University, where he was awarded a teaching assistantship. He secured the first place in the composition competition at ASU in spring 2020 and received the third place at the Kathleen Mykytyn Distinguished Composition Award. Taborda completed his Doctoral degree in Music Composition in 2022, studying under the guidance of Gabriel Bolaños, Jody Rockmaker, and Alex Temple.
His pedagogical piano compositions have reached audiences globally, and his Alda Music Publisher project has been featured in piano pedagogy festivals in Brazil and the US. In 2021, Daniel was accepted for a postgraduate degree in conducting in Szczecin, Poland, at Akademia Sztuki w Szczecinie with Piotr Borkowski and received his Diploma in October 2023.
Daniel has contributed to academia as an adjunct professor of music theory, aural skills, and music history at Grand Canyon University. Presently, he is actively engaged in developing his project, Dr. Cicada Music, and working at Wycombe Abbey International School in China as composer in residence and conductor.