Stephen Wood

Stephen Wood
Based in Atlanta, GA
Website: stephenwoodmusic.com

“A holistic view of Earth’s ecosystem is expressed through a musical relationship with environment.”

Biography

Stephen Wood is a Wilderness composer, educator, and performer with a holistic view of the world.  Stephen’s newest CD release, “Untrammeled,” is a recent culmination of his Wilderness residency adventures through the United States.

Traveling the United States in search of inspiration from our country’s wildest places, Stephen has served as Composer-in-Residence for Cumberland Island National Seashore, Okefenokee N.W.R., Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, Red River Gorge Geological Area, Apalachicola N.F., Absaroka Wilderness, and Denali N.P.

His visionary “Inspiring Stewardship” educational workshop has received national interest for it’s fusion of music, soundscape, and environmental studies. “Inspiring Stewardship” was the recipient of the National Park Foundation’s “Every Kid in the Park” grant for its work with the Daniel Boone N.F. and central Kentucky elementary schools.

Wood’s recent Wilderness compositions have been performed by professional and student ensembles including the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra, Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival String Orchestra, Chamber Cartel, New Music on the Bayou Festival, Concert Black, Cantos y Cuentos, ensemblenewSRQ, and others. “Untrammeled” and other contemporary classical, jazz, and afro-cuban scores and recordings are available through his website.

Audio Samples

Drosera: the morning dew of sun (2014). Performed by Clarinets for Conservation at the Chattahoochee Nature Center, Roswell, GA for the Wilderness Act Performance Series, 2014.

“Amidst the grasses of the floating islands dotting the coffee stained swamp water the elusive Sundew, Drosera spatulata, lives with joy and harmony. Reaching past the roots of the grasses towering above Drosera extends her paws waiting for passing prey. A prey filled with nutrients unavailable in the flooded peat soil.

Hiding in the dark water the Sundew makes her way unnoticed.
Content, joyful, meek, dancing. A single voice floating, waiting to be noticed.

“Drosera: the morning dew of the sun” is the result the first ever Artist Residency Program at the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge. The Residency was created in honor of the 50th Anniversary Year specifically for the Wilderness Act Performance Series. As Composer-in-Residence I spent 6 days exploring the Okefenokee Wilderness Area. The exceptional itinerary included 3 days and two nights on the canoe trails in backcountry swamp platforms, kayaking the westside cypress forest, night hikes among the orchestra of frogs, and historical tours of the swamp settlements.”

Untrammeled: a point of view, from Slaven’s bluff, overlooking the Yukon (2014). Premiered by Concert Black at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival for the Composing in the Wilderness Field Seminar, 2014.

“At that moment, at that place,
the Yukon was untrammeled

The water flowed

Steady
Peaceful
Wondering
Moving past

The history of extraction has ceased

For this place, this moment
Preservation happens
The river flows with optimism
as it once did.”

< Return to Composers Network