Stephen R. Anderson
From College of Fine Arts and Communications
Stephen R. Anderson graduated from BYU in 1997 with a degree in Music Composition.
He is a recording artist for Summit Records. His recent Forget Not (2008) trio CD received 4½ stars (out of 5) from the All Music Guide, was nominated by critic, W. Royal Stokes, for best jazz “Debut CD” (3rd Annual Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll 2008), and has been widely performed on radio nationally, as well as internationally. Prior to leading his own trio, Anderson was pianist with the Lynn Seaton Trio and appears on two recordings for Nagel Heyer Records, Puttin’ On the Ritz (2005) and Ballads 2006 (compilation CD). Anderson played and recorded with the North Texas One O’clock Lab Band (Lab 2001), and Two O’clock Lab Band (Translucent Two). He has been active as a clinician and performing artist nationally and internationally in recent years, was winner of the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival piano competition (1997), and was the keyboardist for gold-recording (country) artist, Kevin Sharp (1996-1997).
As a composer, Anderson’s works have been performed by the West Point Military Academy Band, the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra, Lynn Seaton and the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, the Crested Butte Chamber Orchestra, the One O' Clock Lab Band, Two O’clock Lab band, North Carolina Central University Percussion Ensemble, UNC Charlotte Percussion Ensemble, UNC-CH Wind Ensemble, and a film score broadcast nationally on PBS. Anderson’s compositions are published by UNC (Northern Colorado) Jazz Press and Cimmarron Music Press.
He has received awards from UNT and BYU in composition, an Honorable Mention from the International Society of Basses (2002), and grants from the Barlow Foundation, the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro, and the UNC Research Council for his artistic work. He was the recipient of the “Village Pride, Hometown Hero Award” from 1360 WCHL (Chapel Hill Radio August 2008). The UNC Endeavors magazine released an article in the Fall 2008 issue that highlighted Anderson’s composition process that resulted in the Forget Not CD. The album received reviews in various jazz magazines or on-line publications, including All about Jazz, Jazz Times, and the All Music Guide. The Percussive Arts Society published a review of Anderson’s Concerto for Solo Percussion and Concert Band in the PAS publication, Percussive Notes (February 2009 issue), and Anderson was the recipient of a UNC Junior Faculty Development Award from Bernadette Gray-Little, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Chair, Committee on Faculty Research and Study (December 2008).
Anderson earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts (2005), and a Master’s of Music (2000) in composition at the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor of Music degree in composition at Brigham Young University (1997). He studied composition with Cindy McTee, Joseph Klein, Tom Clark, Joseph Butch Rovan, Phil Winsor, and Paris Rutherford at UNT, and Stephen Jones, David Sargent, Michael Hicks, and Murray Boren at BYU. He studied jazz piano with Dan Haerle and Stephan Karlson at UNT, Dan Waldis at BYU, Gary Freeman at Eastfield College, and Wilson Brown at Ricks College.
Teaching experience includes: Assistant Professor, Composition and Jazz Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill (Fall 2005 to the present), Assistant Professor of Jazz Piano at Western Illinois University (2003-2005), Composition Teaching Fellow UNT (2002-2003), Jazz Arranging Teaching Assistant UNT (1999-2002), Piano Instructor UNT Community Music Program (1997-2003), Director of Jazz Combos BYU (1995-1997).
He currently serves on the faculty for jazz studies and composition at the University of North Carolina.
