D.R. Harris (Daniel R. Harris) is a musician, writer, painter, sculptor and audio engineer. He is the composer of over fifty compositions, author 100+ short stories, two novels, a novella, and two story collections and has painted over 2500 paintings. This blog is a selection of his lifelong efforts in his chosen fields.
Harris was born in Chicago (1943) and educated at the Eastman School of Music, Yale University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He spent most of his life as a professional musician (woodwinds) and audio engineer. In addition to his work as a classical musician and studio musician, he was in demand as a virtuoso interpreter and improviser of New Music.
Mr. Harris specializes in live electronic works and interactive theatrical systems. His large multi-media theater works, Visions, Windows, The Tropes, and Ritagli, all received high critical acclaim. A television production of Visions was shown as a PBS special.
DR Harris performing Alex Grillo’s METAFLAM in Dormans, France 2006
DR Harris, Bass Clarinet (L) and Eric Noel, Flames (Groupe F)(R)
Performing METAFLAM in Dormans, France. 2006
In 1989 he was artist-in-residence at the Centre International de Recherche Musicale in Nice, France. As a fellow of the Centre, he developed special underwater sound systems and musical instruments for Michel Redolfi’s Sonic Waters in addition to fulfilling several commissions including his Symphony of Extension (1989) and Symphony of Extension (1998) for bass clarinet with electronic extensions. He has continued to work with Michel Redolfi and designed and built special hardware and software for Redolfi’s La Citta Liquida at the 2006 Venice Music Biennale & 2006 Nuit Blanche in Paris. Since 1994, Mr. Harris has focused his performance activities exclusively on the bass clarinet and the bass clarinet with electronic & media extensions. He performs frequently as a soloist in the US and in Europe with Vibrone, Trio Rare and in other improvisatory settings.
D.R. Harris has published stories in Madhatter Review, Eclectica, PANK, Hasty Stories, and Terumah. His novels The Nude Pianist, Five Million Yen, and The Judge’s Wife were serialized on Fictionaut. Considered Fiction and Dark Exits are collections of some of his stories. His flash fictions are collected in Too Long for Haiku. The Night Book is the exhibition catalog of his phantasmagorical mixed-media paintings. Painting Heads is a selection from his nearly 700 painted heads.
His paintings have been exhibited in New York City, Washington, D.C, San Francisco, Barcelona, Tokyo, Sarasota, FL and in many online group shows.
After thirty years in New York City and France, he and his wife, Maureen E. Mulvihill now make their home in the Laurel Park Historic District of Sarasota, FL.