Dennis Tobenski

Dennis Tobenski (born April 18, 1982, in Kankakee, Illinois) is an American composer of contemporary classical music and art song. Life Born on April 18, 1982, Dennis M. Tobenski grew up in Kankakee, IL. In 2004, he graduated from Illinois State University, where he studied Vocal Performance with baritone John M. Koch, and Music Theory & Composition with Stephen Andrew Taylor, David Feurzeig and Serra Hwang. After graduating from ISU in 2004, he was invited to move to New York City to study privately with composer Daron Hagen. Tobenski was commissioned by the ISU School of Theatre to compose music for Shakespeare’s The Tempest: the inaugural production of the newly constructed Center for the Performing Arts, which led him to write for several subsequent School of Theatre mainstage productions. These included Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Frank McGuinness’ adaptation of Sophocles’ Electra. The ISU College of Fine Arts commissioned the 2002 Elegy, a work for choir and chamber ensemble commemorating the events of September 11, 2001, and the 2004 Soliloquy for solo flute. Tobenski was commissioned in 2002 by baritone John M. Koch (whose 1996 performance of Il barbiere di