Faculty

Dan Caputo (b. 1991) is a Los Angeles-based composer and producer of instrumental and electronic music whose work has been described as “sprawling [and] dreamlike,” “sumptuously depict[ing]” its subject matter (San Francisco Classical Voice). Weaving a range of stylistic influences into his psychologically-bent music, Dan aims to construct immersive sonic experiences colored by curious and thought-provoking musical behaviors.

Featured as a composer-in-residence at the 2023 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Caputo worked with conductor Cristian Măcelaru and the festival orchestra on his piece Liminal which opened the final concert of the season. Liminal, the recipient of an honorable mention in the 2019 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, was additionally performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra as part of the 2019 NJSO Edward T. Cone Composition Institute with conductor Cristian Măcelaru and Institute Director Steven Mackey.

Dan’s compositions have been presented by institutions including the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Hear Now Music Festival, the Blackbird Creative Lab, the USC Thornton Symphony, USC Thornton Edge, the Oh My Ears New Music Festival, and the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest. Caputo’s recent works can be heard on the self-published digital albums Every Now and Then (2023) and Strata (2021), available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms. 

Raised in the Pacific Northwest, Caputo earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from the University of Southern California (2019), a M.Mus. from the University of Texas at Austin (2015), and a B.M. from USC (2013). His mentors included composers Ted Hearne, Sean Friar, and Donald Crockett.