Daniel Farris is in his fifth year as assistant professor of music with Southwestern Oklahoma State University and with the music staff of First Presbyterian Church of Elk City, OK. He is the vocal area coordinator of Southwestern’s music department and works in conjunction with Ms. Joyce Adams Curtis and Dr. Kristen Griffeath to teach opera music theater and other choral and vocal topics to performance, education, and music therapy majors. Daniel also serves as a judge for the national music competition The American Prize, and is an adjudicator and music advisory board member of the Oklahoma Arts Institute.  

Currently, Daniel performs as a tenor chorister and soloist in Oklahoma and the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and is a regional and international scholar, having recently attended the Athens Institute for Education and Research: Fine and Performing Arts conference in Greece and presented his paper "Intertextualization: An historical and contextual study of the battle villancico, El más augusto campeón," a document based on his dissertation work at the University of North Texas. Daniel is a featured presenter at the 2012 Southwestern American Choral Directors Association convention in Dallas, TX, and is an active writer and researcher.

For thirteen years, Daniel has worked professionally as a music educator, performer, adjudicator, voice teacher, and wine consultant. He has conducted honor choirs in Texas and Oklahoma, including the Tri-State Honor Choir (2011 and the coming 2012 festival), SWOSU Chamber Choir (OMEA 2011), the Western Oklahoma Choral Directors Association Junior High Honor Choir (2008), the Arlington High School Colt Chorale (TMEA 2005), and various other ensembles.  Daniel has also performed with the Dallas Opera Chorus (2001-2002), and has performed with choirs in Italy and England.  He is the tenor choral scholar for the Arts District Chorale 2011-2012 season in Dallas, TX.

Daniel received his bachelor degree in music from Angelo State University, and his doctor of musical arts degree in choral conducting from the University of North Texas. He also studies and teaches arnis, a Filipino martial art he has taught for thirteen years after having tested with Grandmaster Ernesto Amador Presas for his Lakan Isa ranking in 1998. He currently teaches arnis at the Chris Pollman Karate Academy in Weatherford and holds both Lakan (Modern Arnis) and Lakan Dalawa (Kombatan arnis) rankings.

Daniel lives in the Weatherford/Thomas area with his wife, Angela, and his three children, Anthony, Amelia, and Daphne.