Stella Sung

From Wind Repertory Project
Stella Sung

Biography

Stella Sung (b. 1959, Gainesville, Fla.) is an American pianist, educator and composer.

Dr. Sung holds the Bachelor of Music degree (piano performance) from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), the Master of Fine Arts degree (composition) from the University of Florida (UF), and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree (piano performance) from the University of Texas at Austin. Her piano teachers included Theodore Lettvin, Louis Nagel, Gary Wolf, and David Renner. She studied composition with John D. White, Edward Troupin, Donald Grantham, and Eugene Kurtz. Dr. Sung has been recognized by the University of Florida as a Distinguished Alumna, an Alumna of Outstanding Achievement, and has also received a Distinguished Achievement Award from UF.

Since 2003, Sung has been using digital and multi-media applications in her concert and symphonic compositions, music for dance and ballet, and recent operas that include the use of advanced projection techniques and other stage design concepts using technology. With her current orchestral work, Oceana, she is working on creating an interactive virtual reality experience and has developed an interactive app to be used during concert performances.

Dr. Sung is also an active composer for film, and was the composer and music supervisor for the score for the full-length documentary film Voices in the Clouds, which received critical acclaim in national and international film festivals.

Dr. Sung was the first Composer-in-Residence for the Orlando (Fla.) Philharmonic Orchestra, (2008-2011), and continues to serve as Composer-in-Residence for Dance Alive National Ballet (Gainesville, Fla.).

As a recipient of a "Music Alive" award, a three-year award sponsored by New Music USA, the League of American Orchestras, ASCAP, the Aaron Copland Fund, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation, Dr. Sung recently served as Composer-in-Residence (2013-16) with the Dayton (OH) Performing Arts Alliance (Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Dayton Ballet, and Dayton Opera). During the course of her three-year residency, she created new works for orchestra, ballet, and opera.

In 2020, Dr. Sung and Opera Orlando were awarded a $10,000 grant from Opera America as a commission to complete an opera based on The Secret River, a children's story by author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.

Dr. Sung is director of the Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology, and Entertainment (CREATE) at the University of Central Florida, and is professor of music in UCF's School of Visual Arts and Design (Digital Media), College of Arts and Humanities. She holds a "Pegasus" Professorship, the highest honor awarded to distinguished faculty members at the University of Central Florida, and also holds an endowed "University Trustees Chair" professorship.


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