Dana Cunningham

Dana Cunningham is in the upper echelon of contemporary instrumentalists as a solo pianist. Her third recording, The Color of Light was released in June, 2007 from her label, Fountain Creek Music. The Color of Light was produced by William Ackerman, who built Windham Hill Records into one of the most successful independent record labels in history. Ackerman said, "Dana's new album is simply the most impressive work of composition and performance I have heard from a pianist in twenty years.”

Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1961, Dana eventually moved with her family to Texas where she grew up in Amarillo, Dallas, and Paris, Texas. Dana began piano lessons at the age of seven, and while living in Paris,Texas, she studied piano under James Thompson.

In 1980, Dana moved to Nashville, Tennessee to attend Vanderbilt University, where she received a Bachelors degree in Communications in 1984. While at Vanderbilt, she also studied piano at the Blair School of Music under the direction of Enid Katahn. Among her sorority sisters was Christian pop singer/songwriter, Amy Grant of the Eta chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta. During the summer months of this period, Dana was a camp counselor at Greystone, a Christian girls’ camp outside Tuxedo, North Carolina.

After graduating from Vanderbilt, Dana taught at the elite Chatham Hall Girls School, a private college prep institution outside Lynchburg, Virginia. In 1987, Dana enrolled in Dallas Theological Seminary, earning a Masters in Biblical Studies in 1990. She later studied the healing arts at the Institute of Natural Healing Sciences near Dallas,TX and the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. For nearly a year, Dana chose to live at Pecos Benedictine Monastery outside Santa Fe, NM.

Since 1998, Dana has lived in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. She released her debut album, Dancing at the Gate, in 2002 and Silent Night in 2004.

Trivia

• Marcia Myers, the United States’ preeminent fresco painter from Santa Fe, generously lent her stunning work, SCAVI CLXXXIV, for the cover art of The Color of Light.

• These contributing artists also appear on The Color of Light:

  2005 Grammy Award-winning cellist, Eugene Friesen

  Ugandan-born vocalist, Samite Mulondo

  2004 Grammy Award-winning guitarist, Will Ackerman

  English Horn, Jill Haley

  Percussion, Derrik Jordon

  Violin, Steve Schuch

  Percussion, Glen Velez

  2004 Grammy Award-winning engineer, Corin Nelsen

External links

• Dana Cunningham's official site
• Solo Piano Publications 2007 review of Color of Light.

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