STACEY PHILIPPS
Composer
 I like to collaborate and communicate |  I like telling stories with the complexity, nuance, and metaphor of music |  I like to think about what intrigues and entices performers and audiences |  I like to gather information, brainstorm, let ideas percolate, and receive and give feedback |  I like to explore the grey areas of life, where questions are plentiful and answers are questionable |
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 I like poetry, essays, news, fairy tales, personal anecdotes, courtroom drama, biographies, declarations, accusations, debates, justice, daily minutiae, anniversaries, adventures, mathematical schemes, conflict, resolution, suspension, animation, translation, truth, lies, observations, hypotheses, discoveries, and pure conjecture (and the Oxford comma) |  I like lyricism, breath, blending, and the magic of phrasing |  I like dissonance, intensity, and contrast |  I like rhythmic expectation, change, and trickiness |  I like messing things up and fixing them up again (or not) |
 (When things are really messed up, I also like baking, because I know that's always going to turn out well) |  I like how overtones can give goosebumps |  I love the infinite spectrum of colors and timbres of the human voice and acoustic instruments |  I love beauty, surprise, humor, poignancy, silliness, spectacle, pathos, banter, curiosity, and deeply felt emotions |  I love finding out if what I thought and wrote and described is what you saw and understood and performed and made your own |
 I love to make things and watch the metamorphosis from notion to idea to notation to rehearsal to concert |  I love the ephemeral thrill of live performance right here, right now, and never again |  I love the chance for magic and connection at every concert |  Let's make some music |
About
Philipps Biography
(downloadable)
Press
Stacey Philipps writes music of close, lush harmonies and contrapuntal textures, exploring the human experience and the timbre of voices and instruments in minute, exposed detail and vibrant, sweeping gestures. A lifelong choral singer, Philipps is an early- and new-music devotee, and she currently sings with the Oregon Repertory Singers. Her vocal interests extend to a love of composing choral music and art song, as well as collaborating with solo instrumentalists and chamber music ensembles. She is also a concert producer and arts advocate committed to building community by facilitating the evanescent thrill of live performances.
A sometime pianist and frequent dabbler in playing underappreciated instruments – Philipps has an accordion, mountain dulcimer, ukulele, and banjo on hand and is pining for a harpsichord, viola da gamba, and all the crotales – she holds degrees in music composition from Portland State University and in philosophy and math from St. John’s College, Santa Fe. Her work has been performed by Wet Ink, Choral Arts Initiative, Delgani String Quartet, Raphael Spiro String Quartet, The Mousai, Northwest Piano Trio, The Bodhi Trio, Orchestra Seattle and Seattle Chamber Singers, Vox16, Vox Femina, Resonance Ensemble, Choral Arts Ensemble, Oregon Repertory Singers, and mezzo-soprano Laura Beckel Thoreson, among others. She is a member of the American Composers Forum, the American Choral Directors Association, the National Association of Composers, Cascadia Composers, and ASCAP and is the proprietor of Sirensong Publishing.
Matthew Neil Andrews for Oregon Arts Watch on Witch Trial
Bruce and Daryl Browne for Oregon Arts Watch on Sudden Light
Brett Campbell for Oregon Arts Watch
Matthew Neil Andrews for Oregon Arts Watch
Brett Campbell for Willamette Week
Events
Now!
ALBUM RELEASED!
Everywhere!
Oregon Repertory Singers' new album Shadow on the Stars celebrates music of Dr. Morten Lauridson and composers from the Pacific Northwest, including me and many of my favorite colleagues. The album features live performances of Lauridsen's Madrigali – my absolute favorite pieces of his – and Sure on This Shining Night, along with stellar studio recordings of music by Joan Szymko, John Muehleisen, Giselle Wyers, and Steven Goodwin and Naomi LaViolette.
Events
Now!
ALBUM RELEASED!
Everywhere you get music!
Oregon Repertory Singers' album Shadow on the Stars celebrates music of Morten Lauridson and composers from the Pacific Northwest, including me and some of my favorite colleagues. The album features live performances of Lauridsen's Madrigali – my absolute favorite pieces of his – and Sure on This Shining Night, along with stellar studio recordings of music by Joan Szymko, John Muehleisen, Giselle Wyers, and Steven Goodwin and Naomi LaViolette.
October 10
DELGANI STRING QUARTET IN CONCERT
October 10, 7:30 pm PDT
Virtual Performance from Oregon on YouTube
Cellist Eric Alterman of Delgani String Quartet will be performing my piece The blackbird whirled for solo cello at a free virtual concert of music by members of Cascadia Composers. Excerpted and arranged from my song cycle Looking at a Blackbird for mezzo-soprano and string quartet, this solo features soaring lines and shows off the range and colors of Eric's virtuosic playing.
Fall
2020
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY CHORUS
Date coming soon!
Virtual Performance from Washington DC
The American University Chorus will be performing my piece Sudden Light at a virtual concert this fall. Dr. Casey Cook, conductor of the choir and adjudicator, selected this piece for third place in the American Prize Short Choral Works division and liked it so much, he purchased it for his choir! Concert details coming soon!
October 27
November 17
December 8
OREGON REPERTORY SINGERS: THE SPERRY SESSIONS
June 27, 7:30 pm PDT/PST
Virtual Performances and Interviews with Composers on YouTube
In honor of his tenth year leading the Oregon Repertory Singers, Artistic Director Ethan Sperry is planning a series of online concerts and interviews featuring his favorite composers. Save the dates for October 27, when we'll be singing music of Morten Lauridsen; on November 17, music of Joan Szymko, and on December 8, music by me! Join us for the online performances and for conversation. We'll be answering questions and taking audience comments live. Details coming soon!
Report a Performance
Are you or your ensemble performing a piece I wrote? Fantastic – thank you! Please send me a program from your concert and any details I can help publicize.
Contact
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