Stacy Garrop’s 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. Stacy shares stories by taking audiences on sonic journeys – some simple and beautiful, while others are complicated and dark – depending on the needs and dramatic shape of the story.
Stacy has received numerous awards and grants including a Fromm Music Foundation Grant, three Barlow Endowment commissions, Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award, Boston Choral Ensemble Commission Competition, Utah Arts Festival Composition Competition, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble’s Harvey Gaul Composition Competition, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Prize, Sorel Medallion Choral Composition Competition, and competitions sponsored by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, and the New England Philharmonic.
Theodore Presser Company publishes her chamber and orchestral works; she self-publishes her choral works under Inkjar Publishing Company. Stacy is a recording artist with Cedille Records with works on nine CDs; her pieces are also commercially available on Blue Griffin Recording, Chanticleer, Chicago a cappellaRecords, Equilibrium, Innova, Peninsula Women’s Chorus, Ravello Records, Saxophone Classics, and Summit Records. She has served as composer-in-residence with the Albany Symphony, Skaneateles Festival, and the Volti Choral Institute for High School Singers.
Stacy has been commissioned and performed by the Albany Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra; by the Capitol Saxophone Quartet, Gaudete Brass Quintet, and Rembrandt Chamber Players; and by Chanticleer, Chicago a cappella, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Chorus, San Francisco Choral Society, South Bend Chamber Singers, and Volti. Cedille Chicago, Music in the Loft, Norton Building Concert Series, and WFMT 98.7 FM have commissioned works as well. Additional performances have been given by the Cabrillo and Grant Park Music Festival Orchestras; Amarillo, Charleston, Columbus, Illinois, Omaha, and Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestras; National Repertory Orchestra; Civic Orchestra of Chicago; New England Philharmonic; and Symphony New Hampshire; by the Avalon, Biava, Cecilia, Chiara, and Enso String Quartets; by the Aspen Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, Fifth House Ensemble, Lincoln Trio, New EAR, Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, and Voices of Change; and by Clerestory, Grant Park Music Festival Chorus, and Voices of Ascension.
Stacy earned degrees in music composition at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (B.M.), University of Chicago (M.A.), and Indiana University-Bloomington (D.M.). 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. For more information, please visit her website at www.garrop.com or her all-things-composition blog at www.composerinklings.com