Dana Joras (b. 1989)

Dana H. Joras is a flutist, composer, and soccer referee living in the Chicago area. She is a recipient of the Musicians Club of Women Farwell-Trust Award, a winner of the Jonathan Myall Piccolo Prize and was awarded second prize at the 2013 British Flute Society Young Artist Competition. She graduated with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she studied with Samuel Coles, Kate Hill, and Patricia Morris. She completed her BM in Flute Performance at DePaul University’s School of Music in Chicago under Mary Stolper.

As a composer, Dana particularly enjoys writing music for her own performances on flute and piccolo. Her music is very imaginative, often based on characters and stories that she creates. Dana has composed pieces for performance by the Royal Academy of Music Flute Ensemble and by her own chamber ensembles. Dana’s composition, Carnival Pieces, was selected as the winner of the 2013 National Flute Association Flute Choir Composition Competition. Her piece for solo piccolo, Quirks of Quarks, was awarded 2nd place in the 2013 International Piccolo Symposium’s Jan Gippo Piccolo Composition Competition. Dana is also an accomplished soccer referee and hopes to eventually referee at the FIFA World Cup.