Dan Sonenberg

Dan Sonenberg is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and recording artist with a broad range of interests and abilities. His rock music grows out of a deep love of classics like the Beatles, Bowie, Randy Newman and the Kinks, but is tempered occasionally by more progressive tendencies (think Crimson, and more recently Zappa). His training as both a rock drummer and classical composer inform his work, which is at once complex, melodic, accessible, and drivingly rhythmic. His full-length opera The Summer King, based on the life of Negro-league baseball legend Josh Gibson, received productions at Pittsburgh Opera and Michigan Opera Theater, and his music has been performed by the Da Capo Chamber Players, the Cassatt String Quartet Portland Symphony Orchestra, Opera Maine, percussionist Lynn Vartan, and many others.

He was also the founder of the indie rock band <a href="spotify:artist:28ZleH6i5m33jzt18EaMX3" data-name="Lovers of Fiction">Lovers of Fiction</a> (whose wild rock recordings are available here on Spotify and elsewhere). He has also played drums on tracks by <a href="spotify:artist:1CMe7lPUBn1g4zXLxs7x9b" data-name="Matthew Schickele">Matthew Schickele</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2NX2NegBwbQBV4yXud5ZoS" data-name="Billy Dechand">Billy Dechand</a>. His new project, <a href="spotify:artist:2jjz2g7MNuBWrzmcD2idPs" data-name="Flying Saucer Surprise">Flying Saucer Surprise</a>, is a collaboration with Billy Dechand and Matt Kaden. Their self-titled debut album released on August 1, 2025.

Based in Portland, Maine, Dan has taught music theory, composition, digital recording, and other topics at Osher School of Music at the University of Southern Maine since 2004. Read more about Dan and join his email list at www.dansonenberg.com