VENSON, Danae

Danae Venson is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Houston, Texas. Starting as a singer in church at four years old, Danae’s cultural and spiritual understandings inform her approach to harnessing the power of music. In Spring 2025, Danae received a Bachelor of Music with Academic Honors from The Juilliard School with the guidance of composers Dr. Amy Beth Kirsten and Valerie Coleman.

In 2020, after paying close attention to troubling events of racial violence, Danae decided to find a way to “speak without words.” Since then, she has afforded the attention of collaborators and commissioners nationwide. Venson––a 2026 MacDowell Fellow, National Sawdust Hildegard Commission winner and recipient of an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Honorable Mention––has gained the experience of working with Alarm Will Sound, Seattle Symphony, the Denyce Graves Foundation, MATA Festival, New York Youth Symphony, the Houston Ballet Academy, Castle of our Skins, The Juilliard School, and up-and-coming film and play directors in London and New York City. She has also received the privilege of having her pieces read and/or workshopped by Decoda Chamber Orchestra, Balance Campaign Ensemble, and Andrew Yee.

Danae draws inspiration from Jazz and Gospel music and plans to embrace other non-classical influences.