David Laganella

Composer

David Laganella was born in 1974 in the suburbs of Philadelphia. An inventive composer, Laganella’s multi-disciplinary musical upbringing allows him to compose music that merges a variety of genres into an unswerving music language. He is strongly influenced by his years playing electric guitar in speed metal and progressive rock bands and he draws heavily on his experiences playing violoncello in chamber ensembles and orchestras.

Ensembles and artists who have recently performed Laganella’s music include the Serafin String Quartet (at Carnegie Hall), the Auros Group for New Music, and the Haddonfield Symphony. In 2003, Laganella served as the Composer in Residence for the Bergslagens Chamber Symphony (Stockholm, Sweden) who premiered his double concerto, Once on a Fall Fell Red for Guitar, Soprano and String Orchestra. Projects for 2004 – 2005 concert season include a commission for pianist Marilyn Nonken.

Laganella has received honors from numerous organizations including The Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, The American Conservatory of Music (Fontainebleau, France), the Society of Composers, and the American Composers Forum. He holds degrees in music composition from New York University (BM. cum laude) and the University of Pennsylvania where he completed his PhD in composition at the age of twenty-seven. His primary composition instructors include Marc Antonio Consoli, Steve Mackey, James Primosch, Jay Reise, and Betsy Jolas. Laganella also holds a Performance Certificate in electric guitar from Berklee College of Music. He the author of the ground breaking book, The Composer’s Guide to the Electric Guitar (available from Mel Bay Publications), which is a manual addressing all performance practices and notational issues for the instrument.

Laganella is the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Now Annual Concert Series. Under his guidance, the critically acclaimed concert series is earning a reputation for innovative programming and high caliber performances. Laganella lectures several courses at the University of Pennsylvania on various topics of musical appreciation geared at attracting new listeners to traditional and contemporary classical music. He also lectures courses in Music Theory and Composition at West Chester University and has taught composition at Temple University.