His musical studies began in high school with Horace Reisberg; his principal teachers at the university level were J. K. Randall, Arthur Berger and Seymour Shifrin.
He was the first vice president of the International Computer Music Association, has taught at MIT and Princeton University, and continues to actively hold master classes, lectures and concerts in Europe and North America.
He is the author of the MUSIC30 language for digital sound synthesis, and invented the Dyad System, a method that both integrates pitch structure based on dyads into electronic sounds as well as develops the pitch structure itself in terms of dyadic elaborations.
Following on his extensive use of audio spatialization as an integral part of the compositional process, Dashow composed the first opera designed to be performed in a planetarium (Archimedes), taking advantage of the depth projection capabilities of the digital planetarium projectors and the multichannel audio systems that together provide a full immersion theatrical experience.
His most important recognitions include the Prix Magistere at Bourges in 2000, Guggenheim (1989) and Koussevitzky Foundation (1998) grants, and in 2011 the Fondazione CEMAT[5] distinguished career award Il CEMAT per la Musica in recognition of his outstanding contributions to electro-acoustic music.