Duane A. Davidson was born in Rural Retreat, Virginia in 1934 or 1935. He earned a B.A. from Emory and Henry College in Virginia, and a master's degree in music in 1960 from Yale, where he was a student of Quincy Porter. His further studies included lessons with Leon Kirchner at Tanglewood in 1960. Davidson received awards for several of his works. In 1953 he was named the outstanding young composer during Pan American week. Psalm 150 won for him the Block Award, and in June 1960 he gained first prize in the Queen Elizabeth International Contest of the Wind Music Society in London. His Jazz Implications won first prize in the Composer's Competition in London in June 1960, and was premiered on the BBC. His works have been performed in London, Rome, Graz, Tanglewood, and Middlebury College in Vermont. Duane Davidson died in Washington, D.C. in December 1964.
From the guide to the The Duane A. Davidson Papers, 1955-1977 (inclusive), (Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Yale University)
