Bio>
David Kirkland Garner is a composer, teacher, performer, producer, and researcher whose work is rooted in listening, transcription, and collaboration. His music spans acoustic and electronic mediums, encompassing solo, chamber, orchestral, wind ensemble, vocal, and film compositions.
Recent projects include Mr Baptiste, a collaboration with poet Ishion Hutchinson and Imani Winds inspired by early Afro-diasporic music in 17th-century Jamaica; Chronodrift & Nocturne, a 55-minute work for piano and electronics exploring microrhythm and expressive timing; and Eight Songs for Steffen Thomas, a cello and piano soundtrack for the documentary Steffen Thomas: Rock & Chisel, which premiered on Georgia PBS in 2023. His music has been performed by Imani Winds, earspace, Kronos Quartet, South Carolina Philharmonic, Ciompi Quartet, Vega Quartet, Invoke, yMusic, contemporaneous, Atlanta Chamber Players, and many others.
Garner’s first album, Dark Holler (New Focus Recordings, 2017), drew on archival American roots music, prompting I Care If You Listen to describe his approach as one that “resonates with a visceral, almost hypnotic energy.” In 2023, he established Sourwood Records, a digital label dedicated to new music, debuting with Eight Songs for Steffen Thomas, followed by Short Stories, Vol. 1 with Greg Stuart, and anticipating multiple releases in 2025.
A dedicated teacher, Garner has been on faculty at the University of South Carolina since 2016, where he teaches composition and theory. His courses cover traditional topics like counterpoint and contemporary techniques, as well as specialized studies in transcription, performance analysis, minimalism, and traditional musics. His research and scholarship have focused on microtiming, Philip Glass, Cape Breton fiddling, the history of the banjo, and digital humanities, including his work with Laurent Dubois and Mary Caton Lingold on musical passage.org, a digital project exploring early Afro-diasporic music.
Garner has received multiple grants for creative projects from the University of South Carolina, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, an ASCAP Young Composer Award, and first prizes in the OSSIA, Red Note, and NACUSA competitions. He holds degrees from Duke University, the University of Michigan, and Rice University.
Events/press/links >
2025
Mar 16. “Decoda gives a New York premiere of the eco-cantata A Forest Unfolding at Carnegie Hall” by Rick Perdian in Seen and Heard International
Mar 11. Performance of A Forest Unfolding by Decoda with Richard Powers at Carnegie Hall
Feb 12. Premiere of a new arrangement of music from the Overwatch game series (movement 1 from The Overwatch Symphony) by James Aaron Hardwick with the Münchener Rundfunkorchester in Münich, DE. Info here (including a video of the performance available until March 14.
2024
Nov 15. Performance of selections from Short Stories, vol. 1 on a Southern Exposure New Music concert at the University of South Carolina
Oct 29. Premiere performance of Móinn for orchestra by the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra conducted by Scott Weiss
Oct 23. Premiere performance of a new orchestration of Dark Holler for earspace at Towson University
Oct 9. Premiere of Chronodrift & Nocturne for piano and electronics in a solo recital at the University of South Carolina
May 29-June1. Paper presentation and Lecture-Recital on Chronodrift & Nocturne at the Ninth International Conference on Music and Minimalism in Belgrade, Serbia
May 2. Premiere performance of Eight Songs for Steffen Thomas by Claire Bryant and Phillip Bush as part of the Madison Music Festival at the Steffen Thomas Museum.
April 23. Article on upcoming premiere of Eight Songs for Steffen Thomas in the Morgan Citizen A
Feb 16. Premiere performance of The Great Plains with Molly Morkoski at the University of South Carolina
Jan 26. Performance of Short Stories, vol. 1 with Greg Stuart at the University of Georgia
Jan 24. Performance of Short Stories, vol. 1 with Greg Stuart at Emory University
Jan 24. Album release for Short Stories, vol. 1 on Sourwood Records
Jan 23. Melt featured on Performance Today
Jan 21. Premiere of Sonata for viola and piano, movement I by Jonathan Bagg and Emely Phelps at Duke University
2023
Dec 3. Performance of A Forest Unfolding presented by NOVUS NY at Trinity Church Wall Street
Oct 1. Premiere performance of Mr Baptiste by the Imani Winds and poet Ishion Hutchinson at Duke University
Jul 24. Aspen Times review of A Forest Unfolding at the Aspen Music Festival.
Jul 22. Performance of A Forest Unfolding at the Aspen Music Festival
May 20. Melt featured on Performance Today
Apr 23. Performance of A Forest Unfolding at The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC
Apr 16. Performance of A Forest Unfolding in Southern Pines, NC
Apr 14. Performance of Butte and A Forest Unfolding at USC in Columbia, SC
Apr 7. Performance of A Forest Unfolding at Duke University
Mar 1. Album release date for Eight Songs for Steffen Thomas
Feb 22. Performance of A Forest Unfolding by the Oberlin Contemporary Music ensemble
Feb 19. Performance of movement VII from The Great Plains by Molly Morkoski at Chestnut Hill College in PA
Feb 16. Premiere performance of Short Stories with Greg Stuart at USC in Columbia, SC
Feb 13. Premiere of documentary film Steffen Thomas: Rock & Chisel
2022
Jul 6. Premiere performance of Butte with Electric Earth Concerts in NH
Concert review of Black, black, black is the colour
April 24. Melt featured on Performance Today (3-24-22)
Apr 23. Premiered by the SC Philharmonic with Morihiko Nakahara at the Koger Center for the Arts in Columbia, SC
2021
Melt featured on Performance Today (10-26-21)
Crow Featured on Performance Today (8-28-21)
Crow featured on Performance Today (6-4-21)
2020
Podcast interview on The Composers Studio
2019
Dark Holler featured on Extra Eclectic (11-13-19)
2018
Review of “Unraveling Beethoven”
Alan Koznin’s concert review of A Forest Unfolding
Article by David Weininger on A Forest Unfolding in the Boston Globe
Review of Contemporaneous’ MATA show including DwnByThRckyMtns in “I Care if You Listen”
2017
Dark Holler in Chicago Reader playlist
Dark Holler review in "I Care if You Listen"