Michael Stephens, soprano saxophone
Katie Hughes, piano

2023 UNK New Music Festival - March 31st

"When love prevails, fear departs"

Commissioned by Erick Von Sas in celebration of Luca:

Luca
The Bringer of Light
From the East
On the bright Spring Son
He bears his lamp
With open palm
Like the setting sun of Sicily
in a house
of sacred wood
He watches his world
Take Flight

Feather (Fanfare For Band)

I composed, recorded, and synced to picture this soundtrack in about six hours on June 26 for the short film, "Game Over," for the 2011 Greensboro 48 Hour Film Project. The genre our team drew was Sci-Fi. The first four minutes is the main movie. After that is the end credits.

"Game Over" Soundtrack

Eliza Furnace (2014) by Mathew Rosenblum
Commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck, conductor

Eliza Furnace

For flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon; harp, piano, percussion; string quartet

Finished and recorded in 2009.

Endecaphony

music for living musicians and those who listen to them

December 21, 2009

Zahab dissolving embrace, Roger Zahab, violin and Rob Frankenberry, piano

I put together this cover as my final project for recording class. The mix didn't turn out perfect by any means, but for roughly 4 hours of production work I'm happy with how it came out. Hope you enjoy!
Drum Kit: Dr. Sandy Schaefer
Bass: Joe Cline
Guitar: Kolton Brown
Saxes: me


This recording was produced for educational purposes and should fall under the "fair use" clause. No copyright infringement is intended and all rights are reserved to Hargrove/Universal Music Group

Strasbourg / St Denis - Roy Hargrove cover

David Krakauer, clarinet; Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose, conductor

Lament/Witches’ Sabbath, written for the extraordinary clarinet soloist David Krakauer, is Mathew Rosenblum’s most personal piece to date. When he was a child, his grandmother told him the story of how she fled Proskurov Ukraine in 1919 with six children and pregnant with his mother during the well-documented massacre in that town. Lament/Witches’ Sabbath involves the re-writing of his family history by incorporating Ukrainian and Jewish lament field recordings, his grandmother’s recorded voice, and elements from the last movement of Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique, "Witches’ Sabbath.” The work is about migration, loss, memory, and cultural transformation and contributes to current debates surrounding these issues. It will speak to diverse audiences both in the US and internationally. Fear and superstition are elements that drive people apart, laments bring people together; the various Ukrainian and Jewish laments presented in the piece are in sympathy with each other.

Lament/Witches' Sabbath (Excerpts)

All parts written and recorded by Tom Frear 
Piano- Celina Leman

At Cottonwood

18 Wheels Rollin'

Quick mix of a new tune I wrote. Inspiration is modern times and pop culture, and our generation.

Real Life

Sing Your Way Home
TTBB - all vocals by Joel Schreuder
Words: Anonymous
Music by Joseph M. Martin

Sing Your Way Home, Joel Schreuder, 2020

Michael Stephens is a Professor of Music at Chadron State College in Nebraska.

"When love prevails, fear departs"

MICHAEL STEPHENS ❖ composer and saxophonist

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