BIOGRAPHY
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. She 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.
Dr. Garrop (b. 1969) is an award-winning, internationally recognized freelance composer and lecturer living in the Chicago area. Her catalog covers a wide range, with works for orchestra, opera, oratorio, wind ensemble, choir, art song, various sized chamber ensembles, and works for solo instruments.
She has received numerous awards and grants including an Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fromm Music Foundation Grant, Barlow Prize, and three Barlow Endowment commissions, along with prizes from competitions sponsored by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Omaha Symphony, New England Philharmonic, Boston Choral Ensemble, Utah Arts Festival, and Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. Earlier in her career, she participated in reading session programs sponsored by the American Composers Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra (the Composers Institute).
Recent commissions include Frederick and Susan B. for the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Invictus (piano concerto) for pianist Marta Aznavoorian and the Chicago Philharmonic, Forging Steel for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Forged by the Sea for the United States Navy Band. Notable past commissions include large ensemble works The Battle for the Ballot for the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, There’s a village in my sneakers for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Spectacle of Light for the Music of the Baroque Orchestra, and Goddess Triptych for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; chamber works Glorious Mahalia for Kronos Quartet and Rites for the Afterlife for Akropolis and Calefax Reed Quintets; and vocal works Give Me Hunger for Chanticleer, In a House Besieged for The Crossing on texts by Lydia Davis, My Dearest Ruth for soprano and piano with text by the husband of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Terra Nostra (oratorio) for the San Francisco Choral Society and Piedmont East Bay Children’s Chorus.
Her current projects include CHROMA, a Toulmin Foundation commission for the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, and the Lexington Philharmonic, as well as commissions by the Richmond Symphony, Fourth Coast Ensemble, Nova Linea Musica Chamber Series, and the Ravinia Festival for the Black Moon Trio.
Recent performances of her orchestral works were given by the Baltimore, Chicago, Fort Collins, Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Reading, Richmond, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras, of her wind ensemble works by the U.S. Marine Band and U.S. Navy Band; and of her chamber works by the Avalon String Quartet, Boston Trio, Capitol Saxophone Quartet, h2 Saxophone Quartet, Kronos Quartet and the Lincoln Trio.
Theodore Presser Company publishes her works. Dr. Garrop is a Cedille Records artist with pieces currently on sixteen projects, including the April 2024 release of her oratorio Terra Nostra. Her works are also commercially available on fifteen additional labels.
In recent years, Dr. Garrop was the featured composer of the Bowling Green State University New Music Festival and Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival, with additional guest residencies at Florida State University, Great Plains Saxophone Workshop, Kennesaw State University, Michigan State University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Denver, University of Kentucky – Lexington, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, and University of Wisconsin - Madison. She also served as a mentor composer for the Cabrillo Conductors/Composers Workshop, LunART Festival Composers Hub, and the Toulmin Foundation. Dr. Garrop is an ongoing mentor for Chicago a cappella’s HerVoice Emerging Women Choral Composers Competition. She also served as a mentor composer for the Cabrillo Conductors/Composers Workshop, LunART Festival Composers Hub, and the Toulmin Foundation. Garrop is an ongoing mentor for Chicago a cappella’s HerVoice Emerging Women Choral Composers Competition.
She was the first Emerging Opera Composer of Chicago Opera Theater’s Vanguard Program (2018-2020), during which she composed The Transformation of Jane Doe and What Magic Reveals with librettist Jerre Dye. She also held a 3-year composer-in-residence position with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra (2016-2019), funded by New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras. She previously served as composer-in-residence with the Albany Symphony (2009/2010) and on the faculty of the Fresh Inc Festival (2012-2017).
Dr. Garrop 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.). She taught composition and orchestration full-time at Roosevelt University from 2000 to 2016 before leaving to launch her freelance career.
Dr. Garrop (b. 1969) is an award-winning, internationally recognized freelance composer and lecturer living in the Chicago area. Her catalog covers a wide range, with works for orchestra, opera, oratorio, wind ensemble, choir, art song, various sized chamber ensembles, and works for solo instruments.
She has received numerous awards and grants including an Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fromm Music Foundation Grant, Barlow Prize, and three Barlow Endowment commissions, along with prizes from competitions sponsored by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Omaha Symphony, New England Philharmonic, Boston Choral Ensemble, Utah Arts Festival, and Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. Earlier in her career, she participated in reading session programs sponsored by the American Composers Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra (the Composers Institute).
Recent commissions include Frederick and Susan B. for the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Invictus (piano concerto) for pianist Marta Aznavoorian and the Chicago Philharmonic, Forging Steel for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Forged by the Sea for the United States Navy Band. Notable past commissions include large ensemble works The Battle for the Ballot for the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, There’s a village in my sneakers for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Spectacle of Light for the Music of the Baroque Orchestra, and Goddess Triptych for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; chamber works Glorious Mahalia for Kronos Quartet and Rites for the Afterlife for Akropolis and Calefax Reed Quintets; and vocal works Give Me Hunger for Chanticleer, In a House Besieged for The Crossing on texts by Lydia Davis, My Dearest Ruth for soprano and piano with text by the husband of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Terra Nostra (oratorio) for the San Francisco Choral Society and Piedmont East Bay Children’s Chorus.
Her current projects include CHROMA, a Toulmin Foundation commission for the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, and the Lexington Philharmonic, as well as commissions by the Richmond Symphony, Fourth Coast Ensemble, Nova Linea Musica Chamber Series, and the Ravinia Festival for the Black Moon Trio.
Recent performances of her orchestral works were given by the Baltimore, Chicago, Fort Collins, Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Reading, Richmond, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras, of her wind ensemble works by the U.S. Marine Band and U.S. Navy Band; and of her chamber works by the Avalon String Quartet, Boston Trio, Capitol Saxophone Quartet, h2 Saxophone Quartet, Kronos Quartet and the Lincoln Trio.
Theodore Presser Company publishes her works. Dr. Garrop is a Cedille Records artist with pieces currently on sixteen projects, including the April 2024 release of her oratorio Terra Nostra. Her works are also commercially available on fifteen additional labels.
In recent years, Dr. Garrop was the featured composer of the Bowling Green State University New Music Festival and Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival, with additional guest residencies at Florida State University, Great Plains Saxophone Workshop, Kennesaw State University, Michigan State University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Denver, University of Kentucky – Lexington, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, and University of Wisconsin - Madison. She also served as a mentor composer for the Cabrillo Conductors/Composers Workshop, LunART Festival Composers Hub, and the Toulmin Foundation. Dr. Garrop is an ongoing mentor for Chicago a cappella’s HerVoice Emerging Women Choral Composers Competition. She also served as a mentor composer for the Cabrillo Conductors/Composers Workshop, LunART Festival Composers Hub, and the Toulmin Foundation. Garrop is an ongoing mentor for Chicago a cappella’s HerVoice Emerging Women Choral Composers Competition.
She was the first Emerging Opera Composer of Chicago Opera Theater’s Vanguard Program (2018-2020), during which she composed The Transformation of Jane Doe and What Magic Reveals with librettist Jerre Dye. She also held a 3-year composer-in-residence position with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra (2016-2019), funded by New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras. She previously served as composer-in-residence with the Albany Symphony (2009/2010) and on the faculty of the Fresh Inc Festival (2012-2017).
Dr. Garrop 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.). She taught composition and orchestration full-time at Roosevelt University from 2000 to 2016 before leaving to launch her freelance career.
