Why it’s small-minded of all of us to confuse what is good with what we like.

Watch our entire conversation here: The music of adventurer-composer Stephen Lias (b. 1966) is regularly performed in concert and recital throughout the United States and abroad by soloists and ensembles including the Arianna Quartet, the Anchorage Symphony, the Oasis Quartet, the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival Orchestra, the Ensamble de Trompetas Simón Bolívar, the Boulder Philharmonic, and the Russian String Orchestra. His music is published by Alias Press, and distributed worldwide exclusively by Theodore Presser. His pieces are regularly featured at major national and international conferences including the International Trumpet Guild, the North American Saxophone Alliance, and the ISCM World Music Days. Lias served for eleven years as Composer in Residence and Music Director at the Texas Shakespeare Festival. Stephen’s passion for wilderness and outdoor pursuits has led to a sizable series of works about the national parks of the US. He has served as Artist-in-Residence at Rocky Mountain, Glacier, Denali, Glacier Bay, Bering Land Bridge, and Gates of the Arctic National Parks, and has written over a dozen park-related pieces that have been performed in such far-flung places as Colorado, New Hampshire, Texas, Alaska, Sydney, and Taiwan. In 2017, his All the Songs that Nature Sings was commissioned by the Boulder Philharmonic with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and performed at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Stephen is the creator of The Composers Site (now operated by Vox Novus) and the founder and leader of the annual Composing in the Wilderness program offered by the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and Alaska Geographic. Stephen Lias received degrees from Messiah College, Stephen F. Austin State University, and Louisiana State University. He is a Distinguished Arts Associate of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity and a member of ASCAP, the College Music Society, the Society of Composers, Inc, and the American Composers Forum. He is the Texas delegate to the International Society of Contemporary Music. He currently resides in Nacogdoches, Texas where he is Professor of Composition at Stephen F. Austin State University. When not composing and teaching, Stephen enjoys reading, backpacking, kayaking, skiing, travel, and photography. Stephen’s website: All the Songs that Nature Sings, for orchestra: Particle Accelerator, for flute, oboe, and clarinet: 👨🏻‍🏫 BOOK a 1-on-1 meeting with me directly via this link if you’re interested in having a lesson or consultation: 📰 Monthly NEWSLETTER that shares the latest news about my music and shows: