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Daniel Dorff was born in New Rochelle, NY; acclaim began at age 18 with First Prize in the Aspen Music Festival's annual composers' competition. Dorff received degrees in composition from Cornell and University of Pennsylvania; teachers included George Crumb, George Rochberg, Karel Husa, Henry Brant, Ralph Shapey, and Elie Siegmeister. He studied saxophone with Sigurd Rascher and bass clarinet with Ronald Reuben. Dorff served from 1996 through 2015 as Composer-In-Residence for Symphony in C, in which he played bass clarinet from 1980 through 2002.

Dorff is VP of Publishing for Theodore Presser Company. A sought-after expert on music engraving and notation, he has lectured at many colleges as well as Carnegie Hall, won over 50 MPA Paul Revere Awards for Excellence in Music Engraving, and advised the leading notation software companies. He has given pre-concert lectures for the Philadelphia Orchestra and Symphony in C. Dorff serves on the Boards of Directors for the Music Publishers' Association of the USA, Charles Ives Society, Vincent Persichetti Society, Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia, International Low Flutes Society, on the New Music Committee of the International Clarinet Association, and has served on the Board and committees of the National Flute Association.

His compositions have been published by Presser, Fischer, Keiser/Southern, Shawnee, Mel Bay, and Kendor, and recorded for Albany, Bridge, Centaur, Crystal, Azica, and many other labels. Performers have uploaded over 1000 YouTube and social media videos of his compositions and arrangements, which have received almost 2 million views. (In addition, Two-Set Violin has used the opening of Dorff's Tweet as underscoring in one of their comedy videos.)