Artists

Richard Stoltzman's virtuosity, technique, imagination, and communicative power have revolutionized the world of clarinet playing, opening up possibilities for the instrument that no one could have predicted. He was responsible for bringing the clarinet to the forefront as a solo instrument, and is still the world's foremost clarinetist. Stoltzman gave the first clarinet recitals in the histories of both the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall, and, in 1986, became the first wind player to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize.

Mika has toured to 19 countries and 65 cities around the world. She has performed 10 times at Carnegie Hall (Zankel and Weill Hall), as well as at PASIC 2005 and 2007, the Blue Note in New York, the Tokyo and Cairo Jazz Festivals, and the Rockport Jazz Festival. She regularly performs around the world in a duo with her husband, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, at major venues in New York, Boston, Austin, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, and many more.

North Macedonian pianist and composer Natasha Stojanovska has received numerous prestigious prizes and honors, including the American Prize. Having left her native country to continue her education in the United States, she was selected to be a member of the studios of Roberta Rust at Lynn University’s Conservatory of Music and Alexander Toradze at Indiana University. Stojanovska continued on to pursue a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University with James Giles.

Timothy Stoddard has been hailed by Opera News as “having a clear-voiced tenor.” A native of Idaho, he is an award-winning vocal musician and actor who focuses his time and interests in new music, works for the stage, and oratorio. His repertoire spans that of early music, chamber music, works of Broadway, traditional opera, and world premiere pieces, and he performs in the United States, as well as Europe and Asia.

Cellist Paige Stockley is known for championing the music of living composers from the Pacific Northwest and is on faculty at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Paige holds a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Her early training was at the University of Washington, where she studied with cellist Toby Saks while earning a double major in Political Science and English. She has also played in orchestras around the world: from Connecticut to Spain, Mexico City, Prague and Krakow, spending a year at the European Mozart Academy playing under the baton of Sandor Vegh and studying with Steven Isserlis.

Robert Stewart (b. 1918) has composed for a variety of soloists, orchestras, and ensembles. He has written music for the New York Brass Quintent, the National Symphony String Trio, the Stradivari String Quartet, and many others. His compositions have been performed across North America and Europe.

David Nisbet Stewart is a composer, pianist, and organist. His career began in academia and migrated into computer technology from 1979 onward. His style of composing also changed as he pursued a new occupation. He believes that leaving academia for the business world was a great benefit to his art. Music is the business of entertainment; the composer must satisfy, even delight, the paying audience. His compositions connect with the listener’s ear and heart.

Peter Vukmirovic Stevens is a composer, pianist, and multimedia artist. Stevens’ illustrative music covers an extensive palette of sensibilities from concert to sound art. He is the founder of Ensemble Ex Materia. Stevens lives in Paris.

Emily Sternfeld-Dunn, soprano, is a strong advocate for new music and unconventional performances of art song and opera. Ms. Sternfeld-Dunn regularly gives recitals across the country featuring works of contemporary American composers. Significant performances with Hartford Opera Theater include Laetitia in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief and Aunt Polly and Susy Harper in Tom Sawyer, a new work commissioned by the company.

Aleksander Sternfeld-Dunn (b. 1980, Vallejo CA) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, was educated on both coasts and now finds himself in the middle of the country. His music combines a frenetic rhythmic language, lean textures and lyrical sensitivity. His music has been recorded and performed throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Asia by ensembles and organizations including the Kiev Philharmonic, The Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra, Huntsville Alabama Army Band, Composers Inc, Conundrum, The Yale Brass Trio, Scott/Garrison Duo, and Vox Novus.

Praised by The New York Times for her “thoughtful musicality” and “fleet-fingered panache,” Liza Stepanova has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Weill and Zankel recital halls at Carnegie Hall; Alice Tully, Merkin, David Geffen, and Steinway halls in New York City; and at the Kennedy Center. She has appeared as a soloist with conductors James DePreist and Nicholas McGegan and live on WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago, and WETA Washington.

Erich Stem’s music has been described as “sophisticated and intriguing” (The Washington Post), “unique and beautiful” (Boston Theatre Review), and as having a “fluent and chaotic exchange that breaks minimalism apart” (A Closer Listen). It pulls from a variety of sources, including American jazz, Japanese shakuhachi music, and Stem’s interest in improvisation. His music has been performed live around the globe in places such as New York City, Boston, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Miami, England, the Netherlands, and Romania, and can be heard on albums by critically acclaimed groups such as counter)induction, Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, and the Cadillac Moon Ensemble. His commissions include music for recognized artists such as saxophonist Johan van der Linden and flutist Lindsey Goodman.

Dana Muller and Gary Steigerwalt have performed as duo pianists for more than three decades, creating programs that encompass the historical and stylistic gamut of the piano four-hand genre. As recitalists, they have performed extensively in the United States, South America and Scotland. Festival appearances range from presenting Beethoven’s complete four-hand works at the Beethoven Festival, Oyster Bay, Long Island, to performances at Bethlehem Musikfest (Pennsylvania), Music at Penn Alps (Maryland), and Sevenars Festival and Musicorda Festival (Massachusetts).

Born in Aachen, Germany, Walter studied in Hamburg with Ernst-Gernot Klußmann, Wilhelm Maler, and Philipp Jarnach (Busoni’s pupil, and the teacher of Kurt Weill and Bernd Alois Zimmermann). He is prolific in all genres, from solo and chamber works to grand opera. Five of his operas were brought to stage in Germany: “Eli” inspired by Nelly Sachs and “Die Judenbuche / The Jew’s Beech” after the novella by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff were performed in Dortmund.

Elizabeth Start is a composer, cellist, arts administrator, and union officer, currently dividing her time between Kalamazoo MI and the Chicago area.

Michelle Batty Stanley is Associate Professor of Music at Colorado State University where she teaches flute and chamber music. Michelle is a regular performer in solo, chamber and orchestral settings. From early music to new music, Michelle is a passionate performer and strong advocate of the musical arts. She is a regular international artist and has enjoyed giving masterclasses from China to the U.S..

Paul John Stanbery is currently Music Director of the Hamilton Fairfield Symphony, Ohio Mozart Festival, Great Miami Youth Symphony and has been Associate Conductor of the Lima Symphony in Ohio. Guest appearances have included the Western Piedmont Symphony, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, The University of Cincinnati, and the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest with the Miami University Symphony Orchestra.

James William Stamm completed his classical guitar and theory/composition B.F.A. at Marshall University in Huntington WV. As of the release of PATTERNS, he is completing an M.F.A. in film music composition at UNC School of the Arts. His musical background also includes songwriting.

Composer Jeff Stadelman's (b. 1959) unusual, arresting, exacting musical voice has evolved over 25 years, amounting to a complex musical practice that suggests no obvious counterpart.

From the onset of his career, German composer Gerhard Stäbler (b. 1949) has not only been active as a composer, but also involved in the political and organizational arenas. He organized the new music festival Aktive Musik, along with serving as the artistic director of the 1995 World Music Days of the ISCM in the Ruhr Area in Germany. A third vital point of his activities lies in teaching; he has worked with many young international composers in a variety of workshops and seminars. He was a composer-in-residence and visiting professor throughout North and South America as well as in the Middle and Far East.