Anna Dagmar 60-Word Bio
British-born/NYC-based piano-woven folk/pop artist Anna Dagmar cites influences including Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel and Leonard Bernstein. An Eastman School of Music graduate, her third CD, Let the Waves Come in Threes (2009) charted #6 on the National Roots Report, and received a Gold Prize in the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest. Dagmar is a BMI Musical Theatre Workshop member and is recording her forth album, Satellite.
Lucy Kaplansky says: “Anna Dagmar’s music showcases her gorgeous voice, lyrical piano stylings and lovely, intelligent songs.”
Anna Dagmar 100-Word Bio
NYC piano-woven folk/pop artist Anna Dagmar was born in England and raised in Massachusetts. An Eastman graduate, her influences include Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, and Leonard Bernstein. Dagmar’s third CD, Let the Waves Come in Threes (2009), was produced by Ben Wittman, charted #6 on the Roots Music Report, and received a Gold Prize in the 2011 the Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest. Dagmar has played with Lucy Kaplansky and Joe Crookston and has performed at City Winery, Club Passim, NERFA and WFUV. She is a BMI Musical Theatre Workshop member and Composer-in-Residence at The Nightingale School, and is recording her forth CD, Satellite, propelled by fans on Kickstarter.com.
Lucy Kaplansky says: “Anna Dagmar’s music showcases her gorgeous voice, lyrical piano stylings and lovely, intelligent songs.”
Anna Dagmar 200-Word Bio
NYC-based piano-woven folk/pop artist Anna Dagmar was born in England and grew up in Massachusetts. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, she sites influences including Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Keith Jarrett, Claude Debussy, Leonard Bernstein, Sufjan Stevens, Susan Werner and Anais Mitchell. Dagmar’s colorful piano accompaniments and original string arrangements paint little worlds, inviting the listener into each song. Her playing is effortlessly virtuosic, allowing her voice to soar freely and lyrically. Her melodies are married to the words, resonating like newborn standards.
Anna Dagmar has released three albums and a songbook. Her 2009 album, Let the Waves Come in Threes, was produced by Ben Wittman (Patty Larkin, Jonatha Brooke), charted #6 on the National Roots Music Report, and received a Gold Prize in the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest. Dagmar has performed and recorded with Lucy Kaplansky, Ellis Paul, Natalia Zukerman, Joe Crookston and The Lascivious Biddies and has performed at City Winery, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Club Passim. She has been selected for a NERFA Tricentric Showcase, WFUV’s “On Your Radar” series, Composer-in-Residence at The Nightingale-Bamford School and the presitigious BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop. She is currently recording her 4th album, Satellite, propelled by fans on Kickstarter.com.
Lucy Kaplansky says: “Anna Dagmar’s album, Let the Waves Come in Threes, showcases her gorgeous voice, lyrical piano stylings and lovely, intelligent songs.”
Anna Dagmar 500-Word Bio
Her love of words was born at a tiny desk, in a tiny room, just north of London. The St. Albans’ Cathedral choir, her father’s classical radio, and her mother’s lullabies echoed all around. And at age seven, she perched on the steps of a new home in Massachusetts, on lookout, for the piano delivery truck.
While many young students turn their noses up at classical music, as they would at Brussels sprouts, Dagmar devoured Chopin, Beethoven and Debussy like chocolate cake. It was the surprises in the music that fascinated her. At fourteen, she discovered the tender, mystical poetry of Joni Mitchell alongside the breathtaking improvisations of Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans, who transformed the piano into a choir of tiny voices. By the end of her training at The Eastman School of Music, Dagmar had found a way to weave her passions and influences together into surprising songs of her own. Dagmar’s colorful piano accompaniments and original string arrangements paint little worlds, inviting the listener into each song. Her playing is effortlessly virtuosic, allowing her voice to soar freely and lyrically. The melodies are married to the words, resonating like newborn standards.
Now based in NYC, Anna Dagmar has released three albums and a printed songbook. Her 2009 album, Let the Waves Come in Threes, was produced by Ben Wittman (Patty Larkin, Jonatha Brooke), charted #6 on the National Roots Music Report, and received a Gold Prize in the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest. The title track spills out with a cascading piano riff, and tells the vivid story of a girl whose treasured diary is swept to sea. As she looks out across the ocean for meaning and direction, a mysterious voice rises up from the waves. Another standout track, “Can We Be Old Friends?” takes place at the end of a battle. Perhaps evoking the period of the Civil War, perhaps timeless, a gentle drone emerges through the dust rising across the field. Only two enemy soldiers are left facing each other; one sings a brave and hopeful lament. The album has also been recognized in the Unisong International Songwriting Contest, the ASCAP Listening Expo, Collected Sounds Magazine, the Williamsburg Songwriting Contest, and HPPR A-list Artist Series. WVIA DJ George Graham credited it as “one of the best singer-songwriter albums of the year, in a crowded field.
Dagmar has performed and recorded with Joe Crookston, Ellis Paul, Nadine Goellner, Natalia Zukerman, and The Lascivious Biddies, and has performed at City Winery, BAM, The Minstrel, Me & Thee Coffeehouse, Garden Stage and Club Passim. She has been selected for a NERFA Tricentric Showcase, WFUV’s “On Your Radar” series, Composer-in-Residence at The Nightingale-Bamford School and the prestigious BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop. She is currently recording her 4th album, Satellite, propelled by fans who doubled her fundraising goal on Kickstarter.com. The CD is being produced by Ben Wittman, and features guitarist Marc Shulman (Suzanne Vega), bassist Richard Hammond (Dar Williams) and Dagmar’s arrangements for string quartet and woodwind trio. Satellite will be released in May 2012 followed by a national tour.
Lucy Kaplansky says: “Anna Dagmar’s music showcases her gorgeous voice, lyrical piano stylings and lovely, intelligent songs.”
