Born in Australia, Daniel Dodds performed his first concerts at the age of five. At 14 years of age he lived with his family for a year in Linz, Austria, where he visited the music gymnasium. The positive musical experiences and atmosphere experienced during this year confirmed music making as his vocation. At the age of 17 he left Australia, furnished with scholarships for Switzerland to commence his violin studies with Gunars Larsens at the Conservatorium of Music in Lucerne and with Keiko Wataya at the Conservatorium of Utrecht. Attaining all diplomas “with distinction” he received further inspiration in masterclasses with Rudolf Baumgartner, Franco Gulli and one of the grand masters of the golden age of violinists, Nathan Milstein.
“What Daniel Dodds achieved from the first desk in the Dvorák was simply splendid and lent the piece exemplary melodic intensity, sensuous timbre and vigour.” Neue Luzerner Zeitung
A winner and prize winner of several national and international competitions in his years as a student, Daniel was invited by Rudolf Baumgartner to become a member of the Festival Strings Lucerne, later becoming its first concertmaster in 2001 and in 2012 he was appointed the artistic director of the renowned chamber orchestra, leading it in concerts around the globe.
Like Gunars Larsens, his former teacher and predecessor as leader of the Lucerne Festival Strings, Daniel also teaches a violin class at the Lucerne College of Music.
“Violinist Daniel Dodds enthralled both audience and colleagues. He accomplished this with the solo part of Edouard Lalo’s “Symphonie Espagnole”, a truly brilliant feat…when a virtuoso soloist brings this inspired acoustical picture with so much hearty and fiery passion, seductively romantic, and with a self-evident enthusiasm for technically demanding artistry and indulgent sound tapestry, the heart of the audience melts.” Giessener Anzeiger
In addition to his regular engagements as guest leader of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Salzburg Camerata, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian World Orchestra, he is a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and forms part of the ensemble of soloists in the star-studded orchestra.
“The performance of the ‘Festival Strings Lucerne’ under Daniel Dodds evinced high string culture, sensitive and subtle interpretation and homogeneous sound. Musical aesthetics at their best.” Schwarzwälder Bote
Daniel’s appearances as a soloist include: Brisbane Symphony Orchestra, Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen, Philharmonic Orchestra Giessen, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Festival Strings Lucerne, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Thüringer Symphony Zagreb Philharmonic, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana with Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Australian World Orchestra with Zubin Mehta and Sir Simon Rattle. He has performed as a soloist in South America, North America, Europe, Switzerland, Australia and Asia.
Daniel has performed an extensive range of chamber music works, from duo to nonett, from works of the early baroque period to world premieres of works by contemporary composers as well as crossover projects with jazz, tango, and far eastern music. His chamber music partners include Dimitri and Vovka Ashkenazy, Ramin Bahrami, Kolya Blacher, Wolfram Christ, Vivane Hagner, Daniel Hope, James Galway, Ivan Klansky, Tobias Lea, Jens Peter Mainz, Alois Posch, Rafael Rosenfeld, Kathy Selby, Julian Smiles, Herbert Schuch, Martin Stadtfeld, Danuscha Waskiewicz and See Siang Wong.
“The five movements appeared to light up from within of their own accord. Baroque rationality and Romantic emotionalism happily complemented each other: the ‘Strings’ proved to be nimble and adaptable.” Frankfurter Neue Presse
His solo album “Time Transcending” released by Oehms Classics has received high praise from fonoforum magazines in the United States, Europe, Switzerland and Japan.
Daniel Dodds performs on the “ex Hämmerle – ex Baumgartner” 1717 Stradivarius, provided by the foundation of the Festival Strings Lucerne.
