Welcome to the official site for Wes Stephens. Here you can remain current on all of
his new works, commissions, premieres, performances, and clinics.
Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 04:33PM 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.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 01:12AM 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.
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.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 05:17PM 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.
Friday, October 12, 2012 at 12:34AM For the past six months I have been working as a research assistant for Percussion Music Online. I feel that the site is a valuable resource to the percussion community and I am proud to announce that I have signed on to be a minority partner with Tim Palmer, the founder/developer of Percussion Music Online!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 03:45PM My move to Peoria. IL is over and done with. I racked up a lot of miles on my truck (almost to the 200,000 mile marker!). Also, I just accepted a job teaching drumset at Don's Music Land.