In the past 20 years, Craig Carnahan has received over 40 commissions for original compositions. His music has been heard in performances by such noted ensembles as the Dale Warland Singers, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, VocalEssence (Minneapolis, MN), Kantorei (Denver, CO), Conspirare (Austin, TX), the Minnesota Boychoir, the Centennial Children’s Chorus (Fort Collins, CO), Sound Circle (Boulder, CO), and over thirty of the GALA choruses in North America.

Recent commissions and premieres include Notturno for Minnesota Orchestra cellist Joe Johnson and Minneapolis pianist Timothy De Prey; Mourning Songs for soprano Joanna Johnston’s Shoshana Prize recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall; Sappho’s Raft for Kantorei; they must dream beauty for Sound Circle; Hodie! for the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, and Five“Russian” Lyrics for Minneapolis tenor Kelsey Bruso.

His opera, The Last Word (with librettist James Broughton), was commissioned by the Jerome Foundation and recorded by Twin Cities’ vocalists Cynthia Lohman and Bradley Greenwald.

Carnahan received his B.A. from Concordia College (Moorhead, MN) and did graduate studies in composition with Dominick Argento and Paul Fetler at the University of Minnesota. In 1993 he received a McKnight Composition Fellowship to collaborate on a number of pieces with the acclaimed poet, playwright and filmmaker James Broughton. In 1998 he was Composer-in-Residence for the American Composers Forum’s Church/ Synagogue Residency Project. Augsburg-Fortress has published a collection of the anthems he composed during the residency.