Contemporary American classical composer Daniel Walker’s music has been heard on the concert stage, in film and on television, including work for HBO, NBC, ABC, PBS, Bavaria Film and many others.

Film work in Asia includes the score and theme song for the stylish thriller Curiosity Kills the Cat, and the theme song for The Galaxy Railways, a hit Japanese anime series.

Walker’s classical ballet, The Last Mission of Marco Polo, was premiered by the Shanghai Ballet Company as part of the opening festival of the China’s World Expo in May 2010. Choreographed by José Martinez (Opéra de Paris), the historically based work continues to be performed as part of the company’s repertoire. A unique staging of the ballet was performed in January 2018 at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. It was included in the repertoire of the 2019 international tour of Hong Kong and Western Europe and was performed most recently in January 2020 in Shanghai.

His five-movement work See Without Looking, commissioned by the Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra in 2016, is inspired by the writings of the Tao Te Ching – focusing on the origin of the world, and the philosophy of “The Way”. It was premiered by the ensemble in March 2017 at the New England Conservatory / Jordan Hall, Boston. The work was recorded at United Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and released on August 1, 2017.

Walker’s musical Qing Cheng/Dark City – inspired by the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong and the life of its people – was premiered July 20, 2017 in New York as part of the New York Musical Festival for 2017.  QC Playbill NYMF 2017  The show has since been redeveloped with a new script by NYC-based playwright Damon Chua, new songs by Walker and retitled “Last Place on Earth”. Completed in July 2019, the updated show is currently in development for production.

Walker writes a monthly review column of notable Los Angeles classical concert performances for the National Center for the Performing Arts Magazine, published by the National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing China.

Daniel Walker is a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Society of Composers and Lyricists.  He holds a PhD from the University of California Los Angeles and currently serves as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Los Angeles College of Music in Pasadena, CA.

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