Composer and electric guitarist D. J. Sparr, who Gramophone recently hailed as “exemplary,” is one of America’s preeminent composer performers. He has caught the attention of critics with his eclectic style, described as “pop-Romantic…iridescent and wondrous” (The Mercury News) and “suits the boundary erasing spirit of today’s new- music world” (The New York Times). In addition, the Los Angeles Times praises him as “an excellent soloist,” and the Santa Cruz Sentinel says that he “wowed an enthusiastic audience…Sparr’s guitar sang in a near-human voice.”

He was the electric guitar concerto soloist on a 2018 GRAMMY-Award-winning recording, and in 2011 was named one of NPR listeners’ favorite  100 composers. He has composed for and performed with renowned ensembles such as the Houston Grand Opera, Cabrillo Festival, New World Symphony, Washington National Opera, and Eighth Blackbird. His music has received awards from BMI, New Music USA, and the League of Composers/ISCM. Sparr is a faculty member at the Walden School’s Creative Musicians Retreat in Dublin, New Hampshire. His composition works and guitar performances appear on Naxos, Innova Recordings, Albany, and Centaur Records.

D. J. attended summer composition programs at The Walden School and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and continued honing his compositional craft at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan studying with composers William Bolcom, Michael Daugherty, Christopher Rouse, Joseph Schwantner, and Augusta Read Thomas.

D. J. lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with his wife Kimberly, son Harris, and Bundini the boxer.