Steven Sérpa

Steven Sérpa is an award-winning composer of opera, choral, symphonic, and chamber music. His works have been performed by ensembles including the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. He was recently selected by the American Composers Orchestra for their EarShot Emerging Composer Fellowship. Sérpa’s operas have been performed across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Thyrsis & Amaranth was praised as “truly beautiful… a magnificent little story jammed full of thought and feeling and meaning,” with “gorgeous music and wrenching lyrics.” these wings are meant to fly, written in response to the Pulse nightclub shooting, was premiered by Thompson Street Opera in Chicago and later performed in Toronto, Montréal, Hartford, Austin, and Mexico City.

 

Recent commissions include works for the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra, and Panoramic Voices. Sérpa’s vocal catalog reflects his engagement with living collaborators and social themes, including Canciónes de desamor with Mexican poet Cecilia M. Castillo, The Creatures: A Bestiary Retold based on poetry by Jeffery Beam, and And Loving for All, a cantata inspired by the writing of Mildred Loving. His dramatic oratorio james (book of ruth), premiered by Inversion Ensemble, explores HIV/AIDS stigma through scenes of love, grief, and chosen family. Both james and these wings were created in collaboration with playwright Zac Kline. His upcoming album, These Landscapes, will feature instrumental chamber music in collaboration with Density512.

 

In addition to composing, Steven is active producing and directing in the Austin new-music scene, as well as performing as countertenor and vocalist. He has co-directed Fast Forward Austin, Tetractys New Music, and Here Be Monsters, the annual indie-classical music festival showcasing innovative performances and newly commissioned works by Austin-based composers and ensembles. He can be heard performing in Texas Early Music Ensemble, Panoramic Voices, and Inversion Ensemble.

 

Steven is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a doctorate in composition. He holds master’s degrees in composition from the Hartt School of the University of Hartford and in early music performance from Longy School of Music. He earned bachelor’s degrees in vocal performance and music history at the University of Rhode Island. Steven has studied with composers Tom Cipullo in New York, Larry Alan Smith and Stephen Gryč at the Hartt School, and with Donald Grantham, Yevgeniy Sharlat, and Dan Welcher at the University of Texas.

 

Steven makes his home just east of Austin with his partner on their almost-eight-acre homestead, along with their rescue dogs, barn cats, vegetable gardens, and thousands of honeybees in their apiary.