Daniel De Togni

As a composer and artist who primarily works with sound, Daniel De Togni is fascinated with the concept of space in sound/music. Specifically, 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, and 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 can be relived, if only for a brief moment,” De Togni says.

De Togni’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, his 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, and the Delgani String Quartet, among others. His works have also been performed at Opera America NYC, in Japan, Taiwan, at the International Reed Society, June in Buffalo, the Alba Music 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. In November of 2020, De Togni’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.

De Togni is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition alongside a concurrent Master’s Degree in Music Theory at the University of Oregon. De Togni has a Master of Music Degree in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, as well asa Postgraduate Degree in Music Technology.