fun bio.
NYC-based composer Stephanie Ann Boyd (1990) and her music—which has been performed in all 50 states and has been commissioned by musicians and organizations in 37 countries—are on an adventure building musical projects and experiences that more fully connect the folks on stages, in classrooms, and across audiences, to the planet and with each other. Her current musical campaigns working on these endeavors include:
The Conservation Concertos which pair the solo instrument with a nearly-extinct flora or fauna. Nautilus, the inaugural concerto, is being written for New York Philharmonic Principal Clarinetist Anthony McGill.
Carnival of the Nearly-Extinct Animals, a new consortium work for orchestra which follows the size and structure of Saint-Seans’s iconic work. Movements talk and inspire about coral, bison, bees, whales, and other species you probably didn’t know that we’re very close to losing forever.
Lake of Muses for Detroit’s Acropolis Quintet about the history and future of the Great Lakes.
The 50 State String Orchestra Project, and the 50 State Symphonic Band Project, consortium projects through 2026 that involve writing for and coaching youth ensembles all across the US before their performances of The Lifecycle of Stars, for symphony band and Four Future Memories for string orchestra, which will receive its Carnegie Hall debut this spring.
Recent works on subjects that historically haven’t received much time on the classical music stage include Sheltering Voices for the Eureka Ensemble, Everywoman: A Friedan Centennial Memoire about women’s rights leader Betty Friedan for the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and Julia Louisa Esther, the “suffragette symphony” for the Wyoming Symphony.
Stephanie grew up as a violinist in the Ann Arbor, Michigan string world. One of the last students of renowned pedagogue John Kendall, she was a member of the Pioneer High School Symphony Orchestra, the Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Blue Lake International Youth Symphony Orchestra. Her string orchestra works have been performed by youth, amateur, and professional ensembles alike, and include Beyond the Gate, Dark Sky Soliloquy, and A Kaleidoscoped Menagerie for advanced ensembles, and Eternal Golden Braid and Summer Walker Dances for Beginning/Intermediate level ensembles.
A graduate of the New England Conservatory, she writes about the orchestra world for I Care if You Listen, and other writers have dubbed her music “Arrestingly Poetic” —BMOP, “Ethereal Dissonances” —Boston Globe, “Racing, Brassy”—New York Times and “Attractive Lyricism”—Gramophone. She lives and writes in northern Manhattan with her 1939 Mahogany baby grand Sohmer piano Helane and her fluffy black cat Petra.
Photo by Catherine Hancock
full bio.
Michigan-born, Manhattan-based American composer Stephanie Ann Boyd (b. 1990) writes melodic music about women’s memoirs and the natural world for symphonic and chamber ensembles. Her work has been performed in nearly all 50 states and has been commissioned by musicians and organizations in 37 countries. Boyd’s five ballets include works choreographed by New York City Ballet principal dancers Lauren Lovette and Ashley Bouder and include a ballet commissioned for the grand opening of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport. Stephanie’s music has been praised as “a racing, brassy score” (New York Times), “attractive lyricism” (Gramophone), “[with] ethereal dissonances” (Boston Globe), “[music that] didn’t let itself be eclipsed” (Texas Classical Review), and “arrestingly poetic” (BMOP).
Recent commissions and premieres include a work inspired by Betty Friedan entitled Everywoman, with Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, and 2022 Indianapolis Competition winner Sirena Huang as soloists and commissioned by the Peoria Symphony Orchestra with George Stelluto; Julia Louisa Esther: a Suffragette Symphony commissioned by the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra with Christopher Dragon, the premiere of which was the subject of a documentary on Wyoming PBS in 2022; Alleluia Olora commissioned by Astral Artists for cellist Tommy Mesa; Aurora, commissioned by the Kurganov-Finehouse Duo, and others.
Boyd’s music has been commissioned and performed by concertmasters of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the Des Moines Symphony, the Faroe Islands Symphony, the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Smith Symphony, the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, and principal players in the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Her music has been commissioned and/or played by the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the New England Conservatory Philharmonic, the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, the New York Jazzharmonic, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, the Detroit Civic Orchestra, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, the El Paso Youth Symphony, and others.
Her work has been presented by the Thalia and her Sisters concert series, the Moirae Ensemble, and Sandcastle New Music in New York City; Æpex Contemporary Music in Michigan; Juventas New Music, Collage New Music, and the New Gallery Concert Series in Boston; Cincinnati Soundbox, and others. Stephanie has worked with conductors Andrew Litton, Lina Gonzales, Earl Lee, Nathan Aspinall, Cliff Colnot, Gill Rose, Julian Benichou, Kristo Kondakci, and Kevin Fitzgerald. Her work has been performed in venues like Merkin Hall, Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall, the Martha Graham Studio, Singapore Symphony’s Esplanade Hall, The Joyce Theater, Boston’s Jordan Hall, the Midwest Conference, Poisson Rouge, Tenri Cultural Center, Ganz Hall, the DiMenna Center, and the TWA Hotel.
Boyd has made ballets with New York City Ballet principal dancer Lauren Lovette (Red Spotted Purple commissioned by the Ashley Bouder Project, 2018), New York City Ballet principal dancer Ashley Bouder (Out of the Dust made at NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts, 2019), New York City Ballet soloist Peter Walker (Eero, commissioned by Access Contemporary Music and Open House New York for the grand opening of the TWA Hotel at JFK, 2019), and choreographer Eryn Renee Young (EARTH, commissioned by the Eryc Taylor Dance Company, 2019, and Flower Catalog, for XAOC Ballet, 2022).
Stephanie has given talks about her work at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, the Longy School of Music of Bard College, the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Arkansas, the University of Central Florida, Texas State University, Northwest Arkansas Community College, and others, and has given talks on her work at the New Music Gathering conference and the Continuum Music Festival in Memphis. Stephanie especially believes in instilling agency and sparking initiative in young people, and as such has given talks on creativity at high schools in Wyoming, New Mexico, Michigan, and Hawaii.
Stephanie was the 2021-2022 Composer in Residence for the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, the 2016-18 Composer in Residence for the Eureka Ensemble in Boston, the 2013/14 Collage New Music Fellow, and has had composition residencies at summer festivals in Italy, Canada, and the US. She is a faculty member of the Iceberg Institute in Vienna. She holds degrees from Roosevelt University and New England Conservatory (with honors).
Stephanie grew up as a violinist in the Ann Arbor, Michigan string world. One of the last students of renowned pedagogue John Kendall, she was a member of the Pioneer High School Symphony Orchestra, the Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Blue Lake International Youth Symphony Orchestra. Her string orchestra works have been performed by youth, amateur, and professional ensembles alike, and include Beyond the Gate, Dark Sky Soliloquy, Bright Dawn Chorus and A Kaleidoscoped Menagerie for advanced ensembles, and Eternal Golden Braid and Summer Walker Dances for Beginning/Intermediate level ensembles. Find her music online at stephanieannboyd.com
Boyd is a member of the Iceberg New Music composers collective. For concert premieres and red carpet appearances, she is usually dressed by MILLY creator Michelle Smith or Boston-based designer Sasha Parfenova. Stephanie intensely adores jazz big band screaming trumpets, the smell of camp fires and old cars, that moment when planes leave the ground during takeoff, and reading contemporary fiction novels next to her cat, Petra.
Photos by Adam Solsburg