Donald Skirvin studied music at the Jordan Conservatory of Music, Indianapolis, and at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is a member of ASCAP, and his music is available through J. W. Pepper, SMP Press, Yelton Rhodes Music, and as self-published works. More information at https://www.donaldmskirvin.com/ Choruses around the US and abroad have recorded and performed his music, which is available on eleven CDs, many of which are available from Naxos of America. He has received three National Endowment for the Arts grants and has received numerous commissions from both local and national ensembles. After fifteen years as Resident Composer for the Seattle ensemble The Esoterics, he was appointed Resident Composer Emeritus in 2013. Music critic David Vernier, writing for Classics Today, said that Donald’s work “is rich in imagery wrought by imaginative use of harmony and apt, sensitive text-setting. And it's also just plain gorgeous music that speaks well for this composer's facility with voices.” And he has been described as “a leading voice in the contemporary choral scene.” About choral composition, he says, “I want to create choral pieces whose music is deeply imbued with the voice of the poet. For such a piece to be successful and effective, I think the music must arise almost effortlessly and inevitably from the words themselves. I value melody in my writing as well as rich and sometimes complex harmonic structures and shifting tonal (and sometimes non-tonal) centers. I am fond of writing unusual sonorities that tend, I think, to surprise the listener.”