-De Togni pronunciation- Deh-TOH-nyee

As a composer and artist who primarily works with sound, Daniel is fascinated with the concept of space in sound/music. The psychological space that music inhabits in our minds as listeners, performers and/or creators, how sonic objects interact with each other in real-time and space, as well how a sound can evoke an image or landscape in our minds. It is truly astonishing how music can act as a catalyst between memory and real-time, how by listening to a piece of music, or hearing a sound, a world/memory (that perhaps no longer exists) from many years ago can be recalled in the mind of the listener and be relived in, if only for a brief moment.

Daniel’s compositional style has been praised for its breadth and his ability to integrate a variety of soundworlds and influences into his music. Drawing from his Japanese and Italian heritage, Daniel’s music is that of cross-pollination between genres and styles, and the exploration of sonic environments and the musical organisms that dwell in them. His focus is that of creating emotionally moving, auditory experiences for the listener.

His works have been performed by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the Julius String Quartet, Hypercube, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, Hub New Music, and the Delgani String Quartet, among others. His works have also been performed in Iceland, Japan, Taiwan, at the International Reed Society, June in Buffalo, the Alba Music Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Hot Air Music Festival in San Francisco, Connecticut Summerfest, Fresh Inc Festival, New Music on the Point, Bowdoin International Music Festival, the American Music Festival, the UNK New Music Festival, as well as throughout the United States. Daniel’s music is featured by Ravello, Kalamine, and ARIAM Records. In November of 2020, Daniel’s music was featured on NPR’s Arts & Letters with J. Bradley Minnick, in a feature regarding a multi-media collaboration with poet and visual artist Terry Wright, in which they discuss their interdisciplinary project Iterations: 4 Pieces for Narrator, Oboe and Piano.

Daniel is the winner of the 2024 William Thomas McKinley Alba Alumni Commission Award,  2022 Aural Compass Projects Emerging Composers Competition, the  2018 Highsmith Composition Award, the !BAMM! Composers Inc. Student Composers Competition Award, the Tribeca New Music-Merit Award, as well as the Southwest American Prize.

Daniel De Togni is also a frequent performer on the Japanese flute, the shakuhachi. He has conducted various masterclasses regarding composing for the shakuhachi as well as performing frequently in intercultural concerts. In the summer of 2023, he served as the Shakuhachi Artist-in-residence for the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, and has mentored students from all over the world in composition and notation for the shakuhachi.

As a pianist, Daniel enjoys performing new and contemporary works, composed by his friends and colleagues. He collaborates frequently with artists in various genres and disciplines including visual art, poetry, experimental, punk and noise groups to create interdisciplinary works. Between the 2016-2019, he coordinated an annual new music series in Central Arkansas; Rad Sol Concert Series which aimed to promote new and contemporary music in Central Arkansas.

Daniel completed a Ph.d in music composition at the University of Oregon where he studied composition with Robert Kyr and David Crumb, as well as theory with Jack Boss. Daniel has a Master of Music Degree in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied under Grammy winning, composer of symphonic music, Mason Bates.  Subsequently, Daniel finished a Post-Graduate Degree in Technology and Applied Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory where he studied music production and scoring for film and media with prolific media composers Lennie Moore and Matt Levine. During his undergraduate work, Daniel studied composition with Paul Dickinson and piano with Neil Rutman and Kazuo Murakami at the University of Central Arkansas.