Daniel Moe

Daniel Troen Moe (November 2, 1926 – May 24, 2012) was an American choral conductor, composer, and pedagogue. He was director of choral organizations for the University of Iowa, professor of choral conducting at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and founding music director of Key Chorale in Sarasota, Florida. He was a published composer and author. He was once hailed by The New Yorker music critic Andrew Porter as “that dean of choral conductors.” Early years and education Moe was born in 1926 in Minot, North Dakota the grandson of Norwegian immigrants and the son of a Lutheran pastor. Moe began his musical training at age five. He studied piano and clarinet, and sang in the children’s choir at Olivet Lutheran Church in Fargo, North Dakota, his father’s parish. In junior high and high school, he participated in school bands, orchestras, and choirs. As a senior in high school, Moe took up the tenor saxophone so he could play jazz, a form of music he had a growing interest in, and which would affect future compositions such as the three-movement Psalm Concertato. In 1944, after graduating high school, Moe entered the V-5 Aviation Cadet Training Program (USN) (NavCad) program. He