CounterCurrent19 – Stacy Garrop: How Does a Composer Compose?

For CounterCurrent19, Garrop will focus on the compositional process she utilized for her woodwind arrangement, Bohemian Café. The presentation features videos of Prague street performers from whom she drew inspiration, photos of her early pencil sketches for the work, and examples (both audio and visual) of how the piece took shape within a music notation program. The presentation ends with a video from the world premiere of Bohemian Café, performed by members of Fifth House Ensemble. The audience is encouraged to ask questions throughout. This presentation is for general audiences with no musical training.

Stacy Garrop’s (Chicago, IL) music is centered on dramatic and lyrical storytelling. The sharing of stories is a defining element of our humanity. We strive to share with others the experiences and concepts that we find compelling. Garrop shares stories by taking audiences on sonic journeys. After teaching composition full-time at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University from 2000-2016, she stepped down from her position to become a freelance composer. Garrop currently serves as composer-in-residence of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, sponsored by New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras’ Music Alive 2016-2019 residence program. Stacy has received awards and grants including a Fromm Music Foundation Grant, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Prize, and three Barlow Endowment commissions. Her chamber and orchestral works are published by Theodore Presser Company, and she self-publishes her choral works under Inkjar Publishing Company. She is a Cedille Records recording artist and has works on nine of their CDs, with pieces on ten additional record labels. She has been commissioned and performed by numerous ensembles including the Albany Symphony, Capitol Saxophone Quartet, Carthage College Wind Ensemble, Chanticleer, Chicago a cappella, Gaudete Brass Quintet, San Francisco Choral Society, and Volti. Her works have been performed by the Cabrillo and Grant Park Music Festival Orchestras, the Avalon and Cecilia String Quartets, Civitas Ensemble, Fifth House Ensemble, and the Lincoln Trio, as well as wind ensembles at the Chicago College of the Performing Arts and SUNY Potsdam Crane School.