Bio

Daniel Sperry is a cellist, composer, singer, songwriter, poet, spoken-word artist, street musician and community artist, living in Ashland, Oregon. He’s the creator of six albums of instrumental music, featuring his “musical portraits” - pieces composed for individuals as a touchstone for an occasion or passage in people’s lives. He also created three albums of spoken word with musical landscapes, featuring the poetry of Rumi, Kabir, William Stafford, Naomi Shihab Nye, among others, as well his own work. He spends many hours during the warm season playing his cello in Lithia Park, and winters composing music for the soundtracks of movies, primarily his own. 

Daniel Sperry grew up in a musical household, first studying with his mother, also a cellist, and later with the Principal Cellist of the London Symphony, Nelson Cooke. His first professional symphony engagement came at 17 and later he played with the Nashville Symphony in Nashville, TN. While in Nashville, he joined the band, Skyboat, led by his friend and hit songwriter, Mac Gayden. He has had extensive experience recording as well as playing with the Midwestern eclectic band, Sage, with Krishna Das, and Gypsy Soul. He is currently at work on a documentary about the music being played in Lithia Park - stay tuned!

A Community Composer and Cellist

Since 2008, Daniel Sperry has been offering his unique gifts to the Ashland, Oregon community and to gatherings of people in living rooms around the United States. He is a composer of music that has been used for movie scores, and of “musical portraits” - compositions commissioned for individual people as gifts or to celebrate occasions.

Many of these compositions he plays during his seasons of performance in Ashland’s award-winning Lithia Park. He’s been playing in the warm months in the park for years; 2020 will be his 9th season playing most days of the week with the Ashland Creek behind him and a little meadow as his amphitheater.

In addition, Daniel has been called on to provide music for weddings, memorial services, art openings, and community dinners.

Daniel's mission is to bring beauty, elegance, grace and solace through music, to as many in his surrounding community as he can!

Movie Scoring

To date, Daniel has provided music for two feature films:

Life, Adjusted, directed by Sean Nipper. Watch the trailer here.

Toward The Source, directed by Norton Smith. 

The Road Between Us - produced by Christopher Briscoe

And a TV Series on SOTV, premiering in October 2024, Energy Horizons