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The Whole Story (click here for the shorter, "professional bio"): Daniel Sonenberg, known to his friends as Dan, began his musical life as a rock drummer, and quickly thereafter learned guitar and piano, evolving into a singer-songwriter. At Bard College he performed frequent solo gigs, playing original songs and accompanying himself on guitar, while at the same time being introduced to the world of contemporary art music by his first composition teacher, Joan Tower. While at Bard, Dan concentrated on instrumental music, writing works for string quartet, solo cello, the Da Capo Chamber Players (who were and are still in residence at Bard), the Hudson Valley Philharmonic (conducted by Leon Botstein), and others. In addition to his studies with Tower, he worked with Daron Hagen, and in Aspen, George Tsontakis. Dan also continued to play drums, notably in the rock band Toothbucket. After graduating from Bard in 1992, Dan spent another year in Dutchess County before migrating to New York City and the City University of New York Graduate Center. While at CUNY, Dan's principal teacher was David Del Tredici. He wrote pieces for numerous instrumental ensembles, including members of the Da Capo Chamber Players, the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, Friends and Enemies of New Music, the American Composers Alliance and many others. In 1997 Dan joined the band Trike, a Billy Dechand vehicle, to which he contributed energetic drumming and background vocals. Around 1999 he began turning his attention to vocal music, writing the song cycles Baseball Songs (1999) and The Art of Eating (2001), and working as the composer for Crossing Jamaica Avenue, a New York-based theater group. During these years Dan also began his teaching career, teaching for five years at the City College (1998-2003), and for one year at Brooklyn College (2003-04). Compositions from the late 90s and early 00s also included Quintet for Bassoon and String Quartet (1995, rev. 2005-06), Six Small Pieces for Clarinet and Piano (1997), Mejdoub (for Accordion, Clarinet, Drums, Electric Guitar and Piano, 1998, rev. 2006) and Maybe They're a Mouse! (1998) (many of these can be heard on the Listen part of this site).

In 1999, during a two week residency at the MacDowell Colony, Dan met Alex Sax, a visual artist. In June 2002 the two were married. They lived together in Astoria, NY, from 2000-2004, after which time they moved to Portland, Maine, where they still reside.

In 2003, Dan participated in the inaugural season of American Opera Projects' Composers and the Voice program - a workshop series designed to bring accomplished young composers and singers together for collaborative projects. The program generated six new songs for six different voice types, and proved the impetus for Dan's opera, The Summer King, based on the life and tragic death of the Negro League baseball player Josh Gibson. An early, 15 minute-version of the opera, was performed in a concert version by American Opera Projects in September 2003, and in a fully staged version at the Manhattan School of Music in March 2004. A public reading of a draft of the full libretto, written by the poet Daniel Nester, was presented by American Opera Projects as part of the New York City Opera Vox and Friends Festival at Symphony Space, in May 2004. Additionally, the six composer participants in the Composers and the Voice project banded together to form a composers collective, South Oxford Six. The group has presented concerts of new music in March of 2004 at Symphony Space's Thalia Theater, in December 2005 at the Brooklyn Conservatory of music, and at the Broadway Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in October 2006. South Oxford Six will lead a weeklong seminar in Sombor, Serbia, in August 2007, and is currently planning a series of concerts with the Momenta String Quartet.

In 2003, Dan completed his doctoral dissertation at the City University of New York. In addition to a composition (The Art of Eating: Seven Songs about Food on texts by Contemporary American Women Writers) Dan wrote an analytical treatise on the early music of Joni Mitchell, entitled Who in the World She Might Be: A Contextual and Stylistic Consideration of Joni Mitchell's Early Music. Since that time Dan has given presentations on Mitchell's music at conferences in the United States, Canada, and Europe, including at the 2004 biennial joint conference of the American Musicological Society and the Society for Music Theory (Seattle), and the 2005 biennial international conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (Rome, Italy). Dan was also a featured presenter at a special Joni Mitchell symposium held at McGill University in October 2004, at which Mitchell was present to receive an honorary doctorate.

In September 2004, Dan was hired as a Lecturer in Composition and Music Theory at the University of Southern Maine, in Gorham, Maine. The following year he was hired, after a national search, as tenure-track Assistant Professor and Resident Composer. At USM Dan teaches music theory, private composition, ear training and sight singing, counterpoint, Schenkerian Analysis as well as graduate seminars on music theory and popular music. Additionally he is the founder and director of the USM Composers Ensemble. The ensemble plays exclusively works written by members of the group, and the works are rehearsed weekly, as they are composed. Dan has served as conductor, drummer, and pianist for the group, which has given performances in each semester since its inception in fall 2005 (the next concert is April 20, 2007).

In November 2005, Dan joined the folkish countryish band See Jane Run, to provide a rhythmic underpinning to their CD in progress. Recently the band changed its name to Truth About Daisies. They have played numerous gigs in Portland, ME, and they’re CD is in the final stages of mixing (due out in Spring 2007).

In 2005, Dan's biography was included in the 60th anniversary edition of Who's Who in America. He is also the recipient of fellowships and awards from Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, the New York State Music Fund, the MacDowell Colony, the Corporation of Yaddo and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

If you're still reading this, then good for you - I'll tell you what Dan's hobbies are: running (about 20-25 miles or so per week); ping-pong (excellent basement style player); cooking (emphasis on vegetarian and seafood); baseball (lifelong Yankees fan).

Dan and Alex are thriving in the vibrant and beautiful environment of Portland, Maine. In the sunny seasons you can often find them out at Two Lights State Park, throwing some shrimp on the barby and enjoying the crashing waves.