Donald Joseph Sparr Jr., born on October 18, 1975 in Westminster, Maryland, is an American composer and electric guitar soloist. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition at the University of Michigan in 2003. Sparr's early career included residencies with orchestras such as the California Symphony and Richmond Symphony Orchestra. In September 2023, he joined the Memphis Symphony Orchestra as artistic collaborator, launching the Memphis Composers Institute in February 2025. He mentored emerging composers and premiered his viola concerto, Extended Play. Sparr has collaborated with ensembles such as Eighth Blackbird. He was featured on the 2018 Grammy Award-winning recording of Kenneth Fuchs’s concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta.
![2017 Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA): Texas Tech University Symphonic Wind Ensemble [Live]](https://cdn-images.dzcdn.net/images/cover/20c038846da53663fb7d499bd463b251/120x120-000000-80-0-0.jpg)
