Daniel Sonenberg has written extensively for chamber and
orchestral ensembles, and has recently gained notice for
his art songs and theater compositions. His Baseball Songs,
described by James Oestreich as “touching” in
the New York Times, won the Robert Starer prize of the City
University of New York. His music has been presented by the
Da Capo Chamber Players, Friends and Enemies of New Music,
the Momenta String Quartet, the New York Singing Teachers
Association, the American Composers Alliance, Hudson Valley
Philharmonic, The Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and others.
Portions of his opera, The Summer King, have been presented
by American Opera Projects (September 2003, April 2005),
the Manhattan School of Music (March 2004) and as part of
New York City Opera’s Vox and Friends festival at
Symphony Space (May 2004). Additional scenes from the opera
will be presented at the Manhattan School of Music, the
University of Southern Maine, and American Opera Projects
in Brooklyn, all in March 2007, and during summer 2007, at
various venues in Brooklyn with the support of a $25,000
New York State Music Fund grant. Mr. Sonenberg is a
founding member of the New York-based composers collective
South Oxford Six, who have presented concerts of new music
at Symphony Space, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and
the Broadway Presbyterian Church in Manhattan over the past
several years. The collective will lead a weeklong
composition seminar in Sombor, Serbia in August 2007.
Additional performances during the 2006-2007 include the Da
Capo Chamber Players at Bard College (February 2007),
Washington Musica Viva (March 2007), and a full evening of
Mr. Sonenberg’s original compositions at the
University of Southern Maine (March 2007). Additionally,
Mr. Sonenberg’s new fanfare, “Golden Smash
Hits,” will kick off the University of Southern
Maine’s gala 50th anniversary concert in April 2007.
Mr. Sonenberg has received grants and fellowships from Meet
The Composer, The Corporation of Yaddo, the MacDowell
Colony, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He
has also gained national and international recognition for
his scholarly work on singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Mr.
Sonenberg holds a BA from Bard College, an MA from Queens
College, and a DMA from the City University of New York,
and his principal teachers have included Joan Tower, Daron
Hagen and David Del Tredici. Since September 2005, he has
been Assistant Professor and Resident Composer at the
University of Southern Maine School of Music.