Incoming Meadows First Year Chase Dobson Already Establishing Career as Composer

Upcoming concerts by Avant Chamber Ballet and Dallas Symphony Orchestra to feature Dobson’s music

Chase Dobson, who will be a first year at SMU Meadows in fall 2014 studying piano performance and music composition, is already establishing himself as a composer to watch. He wrote his first piece of music at age 11, and as a student at Dallas’s Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (where he’s currently a senior), he also wrote music for classmates’ short films. Last year, he met David Cooper, Dallas Symphony principal horn player and music director of Avant Chamber Ballet, who commissioned him to write a new piece, Faces of the Sun, presented by Avant at its New Works Concert. Next year, his new Piano Concerto No. 1 will be premiered by the Dallas Symphony with guest pianist/Meadows faculty member Lucille Chung. And in April, Avant Chamber Ballet will feature a completely new, full-length story ballet, Alice in Wonderland, with a score by Dobson, who is now composer-in-residence for the ballet company. Alice in Wonderland will be performed at the Eisemann Center in Richardson on April 12 and 13; for tickets, visit eisemanncenter. Read more about Dobson and his music here.