Organ, Historical Keyboards and Sacred Music
Daniel Minnick
CURRENT STUDENT PROFILE
Daniel Minnick is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music in the studio of David Higgs, having previously studied with Nathan Laube. A native of north Queensland, Australia, Daniel holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance. Upon completion of his master’s degree in organ at Eastman in May of 2019, Daniel was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, a national music honors society recognizing outstanding achievement in both musical performance and academics. Daniel has been a participant and prizewinner in numerous competitions at the national and international level. These include the 2020 Arthur Poister Scholarship Competition (finalist), the 2020 First Presbyterian Church National Organ Competition of Fort Wayne, IN (finalist), the 2022 Sursa American Organ Competition (1st prize), the 2022 National Young Artist’s Competition in Organ Performance (3rd prize and audience prize), the 2nd International Organ Competition of Korea, and the 9th Musashino-Tokyo International Organ Competition (4th prize). His most recent concert appearances have included Cornell University, Vanderbilt Presbyterian (of Naples, FL), Furman University, the New York State Fairgrounds (Syracuse, NY), and the Lockport Theater Organ Society (Lockport, NY). During his studies at Eastman, Daniel has earned Eastman’s Performer’s Certificate and the Certificate of Advanced Achievement in Theory Pedagogy. He has passed the examinations of the Choir Master certification in the American Guild of Organists. Daniel is also a piano technician, having completed the required examinations of the Piano Technician’s Guild to attain the status of Registered Piano Technician (RPT) within the PTG. In addition to his classical organ and sacred music studies, Daniel enjoys the study of theater organ, music theory, composition, improvisation, and working as a piano technician.