Daniel Sonenberg

Dan Sonenberg is a composer, performer and educator. He has been on faculty at the Osher School of Music since 2004, and currently serves as Professor and Director of Composition Studies. His opera The Summer King, received national productions at Pittsburgh Opera (2017) and Michigan Opera Theater (2018), with the premiere production featuring internationally-renowned mezzo soprano Denyce Graves. His fanfare, First Light, was commissioned by the Portland Symphony Orchestra in celebration of Maine’s bicentennial, and premiered in the PSO’s season-opening concert in October 2021. Dr. Sonenberg’s one-act opera Girl in Six Beats (2018), was commissioned by Opera Maine, and received its premiere in a production co-mounted by Opera Maine and the University of Southern Maine. Details about an expanded, fully orchestrated version, will be announced soon! 

Dr. Sonenberg has collaborated extensively with international percussion performing artist Lynn Vartan. He has written three pieces for her, the most recent of which, The Surprise Guest, was premiered in performances at USM, Bates College, and Farmington Arts earlier this month (October, 2023). Other recent commissions and performances include the Cassatt String Quartet, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Resinosa Ensemble, Songs from Here, Portland Ovations and many others. 

Dr. Sonenberg has also released numerous albums of original rock music, both as a solo artist and with his band Lovers of Fiction.