The Californian-born Swiss composer Daniel J. Laubacher makes his home in Switzerland. He grew up in Southern California, has lived and worked in London, Kuwait, Vienna, and Switzerland. Laubacher received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), where he studied composition with Peter Racine Fricker and Emma Lou Diemer and conducting with Varujan Kojian. In addition, he studied with the Viennese composer Alfred Uhl at the Hochschule (now Universität) für Musik in Vienna.
In 2025, he completed an MA in Professional Media Composition at the Arts University Bournemouth (AUB), which is taught and administered online through Think Space Education (TSE).
Laubacher has worked as a teacher/lecturer in music, film studies, and ICT at UCSB, international schools in Neuchâtel, Geneva, Bern, and Vienna international schools, and the PHBern (Teacher's University) in Bern.
He has conducted orchestras in the USA, London, Kuwait, and Vienna, and has composed numerous works for orchestra, choir, and short film as well as educational musicals/songs for children.
He is a member of SUISA.