Siegfried Benkman (1895-1986) was a professional pianist during most of the 20th century and a professional composer from 1915 until his death in 1987. His parents immigrated to San Francisco from Germany in 1885. He grew up in San Francisco playing piano and organ in cafeteria orchestras and movie theaters. As a lifelong resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, he performed in vaudeville, burlesque (with the famous Sally Rand), in hotels, with orchestras, and had a radio program broadcast from the Tribune Tower in Oakland, California.

Siegfried's body of work is quite large. He wrote symphonies, tone poems, various chamber ensembles, a string quartet, duets for piano and saxophone, piano and flute, piano and violin, large number of works for solo piano, choral works, popular songs, and sacred songs. Among these is a ballet "My Beautiful Garden" for solo piano, "In Old California," a Spanish suite for chamber orchestra, and several tone poems including "Impressions Among the Redwoods" written from his experience living in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and "Slavonika" which is dedicated to Russia prior to the 1917 Revolution. Virtually all of these pieces have never been heard. Fortunately, his orchestral piece, "Butterflies and Roses" and some popular songs and saxophone pieces were published in the teens, 20's, and 30's and "Yosemite Suite" was recorded in 1996.

In the summer of 1934, Siegfried Benkman rented a cabin in Twain Harte with his family. One day he drove all of them to Yosemite Valley, and thus, Yosemite Suite was born. He completed the first three movements in 1934 and sketched the others. However, the other six movements didn't attain their final versions until the 1960's.

In his later years, he retired to a cabin in the Santa Cruz mountains where he continued to compose. His music is unabashedly romantic with touches of impressionism and imbued with the harmonic language of popular American music from his time.