Stephen Gorbos is a composer, arts administrator, and educator based in Falls Church City, VA. He is the founder and director of Little City Concerts, an arts organization that pairs amazing performances with social justice issues in Falls Church City. Stephen composes concert music for a range of ensembles and soloists, as well as music for film, theatre, and dance. His music, described by the Washington Post as “lyrical…warm and richly drawn,” and by Chicagomusic.org as “pulsating with a sense of urban life,” navigates a wide palette of genres and influences, creating a synthesis between styles as diverse as American rhythm & blues, western classical music, and Javanese gamelan. Whether composing for traditional ensembles, electronic media, or a mixture of both, Stephen tries to find and exploit the unique variables at play: this can be the technical abilities of his collaborators, or distinct features in communities with which he might be engaging on a particular project. How Strong, the second song in Stephen’s song cycle Whitman Fragments, is a recent example of his work (performed here by soprano Celine Mogielnicki and Stephen on piano):
Stephen has had his works performed in concert halls across the US and in Europe by musicians such as the Minnesota Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, the NOW Ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, and the Spektral Quartet. Recent projects include Mercurial Shadows (for Gideon), for oboe and electronics, commissioned by Ben Buergel, and the piano trio Vox Siderum, commissioned by the Maryland State Music Teachers Association. Recordings of Stephen’s music are available on Sono Luminous (What I Decided to Keep, with the Inscape Chamber Orchestra) and Albany Records (Push, with the Moores School Percussion Ensemble at the University of Houston). A recording of Veiled by violist Wendy Richman was recently released on New Focus Recordings.
Stephen’s work has received recognition and support from the state of Virginia (2024 Operations Grant from ArtsFairfax, 2023 and 2024 Project Grants from the Falls Church City Arts and Humanities Council, 2016 Strauss Artist Grant), The Randy Hostetler Living Room Foundation (2024 Foundation Grant) ASCAP (2005 Morton Gould Award), Meet the Composer (2007 Creative Connections Grant), and the American Music Center (Composer Assistance Project Grants in 2006 and 2010). In 2008, Stephen was awarded a Subito Grant from the American Composers Forum, and, as a recipient of the Aaron Copland Award, was composer-in-residence at Copland House. During the summer of 2012, Stephen was composer-in-residence at High Concept Labs, a multidisciplinary arts space in the heart of Chicago. Stephen has also been a fellow at both the Tanglewood Music Center (2006) and the Aspen Music Festival’s composition masterclass (2002), and his music has been featured at Ostrava Music Days (2007), the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium (2005), the Chamber Music Academy and Composers Forum of the East (2005), the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival (2004).
Active as an educator, Stephen maintains a private studio specializing in composition, theory, and music technology: please reach out if you are looking for a teacher and would like to do a free sample lesson. Rates are flexible, and sessions can vary in frequency depending on student needs. Stephen is also available for guest lectures and pre-concert talks. Previously, Stephen taught at The Catholic University of America from 2008 – 2025, where he was an Associate Professor and served for 7 years as Chair of the Department of Music Theory, History, and Composition. Other teaching posts include Visiting Assistant Professor positions at Yale University (2012 – 2013) and The College of the Holy Cross (2007 – 2008). Stephen holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, an MM from the Yale School of Music, and a DMA from Cornell University.
