Joseph G. Stephens

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Bio

Biography
Joseph Gentry Stephens (b. 1972 – San Angelo, Texas) is an American composer of choral music. His Ubi Caritas was recently published by Alfred Music Publishers, and his catalogue of over forty choral works is distributed via websites StephensMusic.com and MusicSpoke.com. A percussionist since the age of eleven, Stephens played in the school marching, symphonic, and stage bands in the border town of Texarkana, and was a student of local drum legend, Dave Daily. In college, his interest in vocal and choral music led to a Bachelor of Arts in vocal performance (University of Arkansas – Monticello) and a Master of Music in choral conducting (University of Northern Colorado). With a philosophy of writing for a global audience, all music by Stephens is first published and distributed at StephensMusic.com (established 1999), and is free to download, print, and copy. Recent commissions include Lauda Sion, commissioned by Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Buffalo, MN, and Joy, commissioned by Houston High School, Germantown, TN. His latest work, Rise Up, My Love, My Fair One, was selected as a finalist for the Ithaca College 36th Annual Composition Contest.

Notes About the Music

Dynamic, tempo and other markings are intentionally omitted from unaccompanied works in order to allow each work to evolve in each performance. The lack of such markings harkens back to the traditions of chant and early choral styles in which melodic, harmonic and textual devices determined the interpretation of the overall work.

Texts used range from the Liber Usualis, Holy Bible, The Tibetan Book of the Dead as well as various poems by Ingrid Showalter Swift and others by Stephens.

All texts by Ingrid Showalter Swift are used by permission.

Licensing

The works of Joseph Gentry Stephens are registered with BMI under the Classical Music Section.

Please report all performances directly to the composer.

Joseph Gentry Stephens is available for master classes in conducting and choral techniques as well as concert appearances for conducting or simply a meet and greet with your choir and audience.

Stephens Music: a publisher of choral music

In 1999 Stephens Music was established to distribute the music of Joseph Gentry Stephens. All music is free to download and copy as needed:

http://www.stephensmusic.com

Recordings

The Gospel of Thomas is available on ERM Media's Masterworks of the New Era, Volume 3 - featuring the Kiev Philharmonic and the Kyiv Chamber Choir available at http://www.numusic.com and http://www.amazon.com

Contact Info

US MAIL:
339 Bradley 32
Warren, Arkansas 71671
USA

EMAIL: josephgstephens(at)yahoo.com

View the Wikipedia article on Joseph G. Stephens.

List of choral works

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All of the following scores are available from the composer's personal website.


Click here to search for this composer on CPDL

Publications

External links