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About the composer...
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I'm a pretty darn obscure classical composer, living in Xenia, Ohio, which is enough in itself to account for the obscurity. I have a Bachelor's of
Fine Arts in Piano Performance from Cedarville University (1997), and a mostly-done Master's of Music in the same from Miami University. I've been
composing off and on since I was about 13. I studied composition privately at Miami with Dr C James Sheppard and Dr G Roger Davis, and had private
lessons with Bright Sheng and Daron Hagen. Other than that, I'm mostly self-taught, which may also account for my obscurity.
I didn't compose anything between 2001 and 2007, but my friend Matthew Walton asked me to write a piece for his Master's recital at Wright State
University (which will be sometime in the fall of 2007). So, "An Horror of a Great Darkness" was born. The score for that will be available sometime
this year, after the performance. I'm looking forward to more composing in the upcoming years.
I stay fairly active as an accompanist, working with local middle school and high school choirs, and accompanying students, faculty and guest
artists at the University of Dayton and Cedarville University. I received the Accompanist's Prize at the Matinee Musicale Woodwind Artist Competition,
Lansing, Michigan (1999). in 1997, I received an honorable mention in the Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition at Radford
University, Radford Virginia; I was also a winner in the Concerto Competition at Miami University in 1999.
Amongst other things, I've driven ice-cream trucks (a HORRIBLE job), installed credit card terminals and ATMs, worked in a machine shop as a
precision grinder, and been an on-air announcer and producer at WMUB. I was the staff accompanist at Rocky Ridge Music Center (Estes Park, Colorado)
in 2000, which was the best summer of my life. I also was the assistant director of Le Nozze di Figaro at Miami University in 1997, under
the leadership of Charles Combopiano. I owe that man a huge debt for teaching me about musicality.
If you're interested in commissioning a piece, by all means, contact me. I'm more inclined to compose when I have a
deadline and somebody to write for.
~Stephen Estep~
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