About
Scott Steele is a composer, educator, and new music advocate. His compositional approach aims at being constructive and sincere. A native of Pittsburgh, PA, he now happily resides in Kansas City, MO.
Scott’s compositions are often inspired by abstract, spatial imagery and color. They explore and exploit the dramatic contrast between stasis and change as well as the juxtaposition of other seemingly opposing materials. The focus is on the phenomenon, i.e. how different sonic events resonate off each other and how individuals construct meaning from the unity of the experience. (Embrace your subjectivity.) Some of his music dialogues with musics of the past, some responds to contemporaneous events, and all of it is a joyful exploration of sound itself.
Bio:
As a composer, Scott has worked with diverse ensembles and artists such as Trillium Ensemble, Music From China, Duo Scordatura, the Alia Musica Chamber Players, Hamiruge, clarinetist Jun Qian, the Duquesne University Wind Ensemble, the Kutztown University Percussion Ensemble, the Duquesne University Percussion Ensemble, percussionist Brett Dietz, cellist Alvin Wong, cellist Carter Enyeart, percussionist Frank Kumor, percussionist and cimbalom player A.J. Merlino, artist Caroline Record, Plug Projects, Panta Rhei New Music, and The Pillow Project.
His music has been selected for the 2007 Pennsylvania Award for Achievement in the Creative Arts for Composition, the 2011 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Student Readings, and the Duquesne Contemporary Ensemble Call for Scores. Scott has been featured on the 2014 Pittsburgh Festival of New Music, 2014 Ion Project, 2012 Host Skull Festival, 5th International Percussion Festival in Argentina, and he has been a guest artist with The Pillow Project, a dance troupe based in Pittsburgh, PA.
Scott has studied composition with David Stock, Jim Mobberley, Chen Yi, Paul Rudy, and Zhou Long.
In addition to being a composer, Scott is a conductor, educator, percussionist, and new music advocate. He is a founding member of FuseBox New Music, a Kansas City based composers collective. He was assistant director of Musica Nova, UMKC’s new music ensemble. He has been on faculty as a music theory and ear training instructor at the UMKC Academy of Music and Dance. Since 2011, he has been a member of Alia Musica Pittsburgh.
Outside of music, is a software developer and enjoys reading, traveling, and the comfort of a full cup of coffee.
Scott Steele 