Recording of Portraits of Eve

The live premiere recording of Portraits of Eve, my song cycle for contralto and piano is now available!

New work for Voice and Guitar

I have just completed my latest piece for mezzo-soprano and guitar entitled O You Whom I Often and Silently Come, which is set to a poem of the same title by Walt Whiman. For more information about this piece please click the link provided.

World Premiere of Portraits of Eve

The world premiere of my new song cycle for contralto and piano, Portraits of Eve, will take place on March 28th at 2pm in the Atkinson Theater at Rose State College in Oklahoma City, OK. The performance is part of a lecture recital presented by contralto Tracey Gregg-Boothby and pianist Andrea Isaacson on collaborating with a composer.

Echo Wins A Boston Contempo Festival Award

I have just received notice that Echo, my song for bass-baritone, clarinet, and piano, has won a Festival Award from the Boston Contempo Festival! In addition to the award, Echo will be performed at the festival, which runs from May 9th to the 11th. Now in it's fourth year, the Boston Contempo Festival is dedicated to promoting new works for art songs/cycles, operas, and musical theater productions written by living composers. Over 400 works were submitted from all over the world (six continents and over 70 countires) and I feel very blessed to be among the lucky few who get to have their works performed at this amazing festival.

Update on Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 12:26PM by Wes Stephens

The details for the east coast premiere of Echo have been solidified. Echo will be performed on May 10th at 7PM. All concerts for the festival are at Hope Central Church in Jamaica Plain, MA.

New work for voice and piano

I have been working on a song cycle for contralto Tracey Gregg-Boothby, which will serve as my entry piece for the 2013 Hennagin Composition Competition. The cycle, titled Portraits of Eve,  focuses on the female perspective and uses texts by female poets from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Three of the five songs are done (minus final edits of course) and I hope to finish by early February 2013.