Bonfiglio was born in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son an orthopedic surgeon, and raised in
Iowa City, Iowa. He first began playing the
diatonic harmonica when he was thirteen, and although he played in local blues bands as a teenager, had no plans to become a professional musician. He enrolled in the
University of Arizona to study chemistry, but at the same time became interested in the possibilities of the
chromatic harmonica. After travelling to
Trossingen, Germany, in the 1970s where he attended a seminar by the master harmonica player,
Cham-Ber Huang, he decided on a musical career. He enrolled in
Mannes College of Music in New York City, studying composition. Mannes, like the other major music conservatories in the United States at the time, did not offer majors in the harmonica. However, Bonfiglio also studied the classical harmonica with Cham-Ber Huang for five years and was coached privately by Andrew Loyla, the Principal Flautist with the
New York City Ballet orchestra for over ten years. During this time he added all the existing classical music composed for the harmonica to his repertoire. After receiving his Bachelor of Music from Mannes, Bonfiglio went to post-graduate study at the
Manhattan School of Music. It was his composition teacher there,
Charles Wuorinen, who told him he could do more with the classical harmonica than with composition because it was such a special niche. ==Career==