Douglas Ovens is an active composer and percussionist and has performed his own works for solo percussion at the Akiyoshidai International Arts Village in Yamaguchi, Japan, at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, on the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and many other festivals around the US and abroad.

His music is represented on four internationally-released CDs including a CD of his solo percussion music, Douglas Ovens – Seven Improvisations (N/S 1036). His works have been reviewed in The New York Times, American Record Guide, Percussive Notes, and most recently, the Journal of Singing.

He has written over 90 pieces and has received commissions from the North/South Chamber Orchestra (New York City), the Allentown Symphony, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Asheville Symphony (NC), as well as many modern dance companies. He has composed music for plays ranging from The Oresteia of Aeschylus to Gao Xingjian’s The Other Shore.

International performances of his music have taken place in Italy, Germany, Poland, Scotland, Japan, and Canada. He will present works in New York City and Buenos Aires during June, 2013.

His music has won prizes in competitions of the Percussive Arts Society, Auros Group for New Music, and selected for performance on festivals of NACUSA, CMS, the Charles Ives Center and Society for Composers, Inc.

Douglas Ovens is Professor of Music at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA and served as chair of the department from 1994 to 2013. He teaches composition, music theory, computer music and 20th and 21st century music.