Kankakee native Dennis Tobenski has published the first-ever volume of vocal and piano music written for and/or by transgender and nonbinary people, “Anthology of New Music: Trans & Nonbinary Voices.”

The collection presents composers who highlight the multifaceted intersections unique to the lived experiences of transgender and nonbinary people and “stands as a declaration that despite the many historical attempts to isolate them, these communities will not be silenced,” according to a news release. The anthology was curated by Aiden Feltkamp.

“As a trans nonbinary singer, I often found opera and musical theater compositions to be aggressively gendered and binary,” reflects Feltkamp. “I was at a loss for repertoire that spoke to me.”

They approached Tobenski, a composer and vocalist who was running a boutique music publishing company in New York City, with the idea to build a collection of vocal and piano music that centered on identity.

In the early 2000s, Tobenski recalls very little music featuring a man loving another man. “What did exist wasn’t exactly visible for a kid like me growing up gay in the cornfields of Illinois,” Tobenski said in a news release. “I was forced to either sing about loving women, coopt soprano repertoire about loving men, or not sing about love at all.”

The anthology is available now on NewMusicShelf.com, Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com and wherever books are sold.