Short:

Stephen Montalvo (b.1984) is an active composer and performer of acoustic and electronic music, as well as audiovisual installation artist based in New Orleans, LA where he lives with his wife and their two dogs, Snoop and Rose. He works to make new music accessible to wider audiences, creates playful and interactive installations, and occasionally jumps on stage with a punk rock percussion ensemble. Through his music, he explores concepts related to resonance and rhythmic interplay, works to promote equity in artistic experiences by creating agency for performers and audiences, and draws inspiration from social, ecological, and political concerns.

Long:

Stephen Montalvo (b.1984) is an active composer and performer of acoustic and electronic music, as well as audiovisual installation artist, based in New Orleans, LA. Through his music, he explores concepts related to resonance and rhythmic interplay, works to promote equity in artistic experiences by creating agency for performers and audiences, and draws inspiration from social, ecological, and political concerns. He is a Take Notice Fund Awardee for 2023, a program by the National Performance Network recognizing artists of color in Louisiana, and his works have been performed throughout the United States by artists and ensembles including Longleash, trumpeter and technologist Alexandria Smith, the Portland Percussion Group, mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen, the Rhythm Method String Quartet, Bent Duo, and the Talea Ensemble, as well as internationally at the Osaka University of Arts Electronic Music Festival. He has received commissions from Sabertooth Swing, who featured Le Dormeur du Val on their 2022 experimental history album Delta Bound, the Louisiana Music Teachers Association, and the Louis Moreau Institute for New Music Performance, among others.

Installations and audiovisual collaborations include projects for LUNA (Light Up NOLA Arts) Fête and SALON Gallery by Arts New Orleans, Supernova by the Friends of Lafitte Greenway, Sound Collage by the New Orleans Jazz Museum, and the Virtual Krewe of Vaporwave. As a percussionist, Stephen has performed with the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra, Midland Odessa Symphony and Chorale, Texas Medical Center Orchestra, and the Louis Moreau Institute for New Music Performance. He currently performs nationally with Mike Dillon’s New Orleans Punk Rock Percussion Consortium as well as in New Orleans with various local performers.

Stephen is currently the Executive Director of the Louis Moreau Institute for New Music Performance, the Operations and Outreach Director for nienteForte Contemporary Music, and adjunct professor in Music Science & Technology at Tulane University. He maintains affiliations with Broadcast Music Incorporated, the Society of Composers, the National Association of Composers/USA, and the Vic Firth Education Team as a Scholastic Educator and Marching Percussion Specialist. He holds a Master of Arts in Music Composition from Tulane University, where he studied with Maxwell Dulaney and Rick Snow, and a Bachelor of Music from West Texas A&M University, where he studied percussion with Susan Martin Tariq and composition with Joseph Nelson and Robert Denham.

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