Heralded as a “promising new compositional voice” (St. Louis Post Dispatch), Kansas City native Stephanie Berg’s music has been met with “enthusiastic ovations,” and has been described as “fun, creative” (St. Louis Post Dispatch), “vivid,” “unabashedly cinematic” (KDHX), and possessing “a tremendous energy” (David Robertson).  In 2012 she was selected as a resident composer of the Mizzou International Composers Festival, where her piece Ravish and Mayhem was premiered by the internationally acclaimed ensemble, Alarm Will Sound.  This work was also performed on a subscription concert by the St. Louis Symphony and has also been selected for performance in 2016 by the Rochester Philharmonic.  Her music, both for large and small ensembles, has been heard across the region with performances by the Quincy Symphony Orchestra Association, Parkville Symphonic Band, DDG Oboe Trio, Columbia Civic Orchestra, Mizzou New Music Ensemble, Ninth Street Philharmonic, and University Philharmonic of Mizzou.  She has enjoyed premieres at the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum, The Sheldon Theatre, and has received commissions from the Ninth Street Philharmonic and the Columbia Civic Orchestra.  Her chamber work, Of Air Sweet and Water Deep, earned her a spot as one of eight national finalists in the 2011 MTNA competition in composition, and in 2013 she was selected as the winner of the Missouri Composers Orchestra Project.  In 2009, she won the prestigious Sinquefield Composition Prize, which resulted in the commissioning of a work for the MU University Philharmonic.

 

Berg also enjoys a rich performance career, playing clarinet, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, and saxophone.  For two years she was a member of the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, where she performed regularly throughout the state including annually at the Mizzou New Music Festival, and at venues like the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum, and the World Chess Hall of Fame.  She has also enjoyed performances at Sheldon Hall in St. Louis, on the Odyssey Chamber Music Series, and extensive orchestral experiences, having performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Philharmonic, University Philharmonic of MU, Ninth Street Philharmonic, Columbia Civic Orchestra, Missouri Symphony, and Philharmonia Columbia.

 

Berg earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Missouri, where she studied with W. Thomas McKenney, Stefan Freund, Paul Garritson, and Edward Dolbashian.  She was selected to participate in composition masterclasses with Armando Bayolo and Andrew List, and has performed in masterclasses with Jane Carl, Anthony McGill, David Shifrin, and Tina Ward.  During her coursework at MU she also served for four years as the graduate assistant for the Creating Original Music Program, where she organized a state-wide composition contest and festival for children of elementary through high school age.