Meet Louis Stevens | Composer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Louis Stevens and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Louis, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I’m not really certain I had any other choice or ever truly considered any other pathway. I can remember other times when I flirted with the idea of becoming an architect or even during the COVID lockdowns I applied for a masters degree to study acoustic engineering but I always came back to music in some form. Whether that be as a performer, director, composer or administrator I am always drawn back towards the arts and especially the people and community of the arts. I adore the arts community. It is such a vibrant and vivacious industry that I truly feel like I belong to and want to belong to for the rest of my working life.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a New York based composer and multi-instrumentalist with particular interests in music for screen and theater. My personal compositional outlook is concerned with the complexities of human relationships whilst evoking emotion-based experiences for audiences. I take a lot of inspiration from the post-minimalist style that gives emphasis to musical textures, expressive uses of color and the bridge between electronic and acoustic sound-worlds.

I would say that my unique artistic voice as a composer is one of my greatest strengths. I have had many different opportunities to both compose and perform music of many different styles and settings from EDM to plays to avant-garde film. Through this myriad of genres and experiences I have had ample opportunity to develop my own sound and compositional voice.
Through being artistically involved with all these different art-forms that exist under the umbrella of music, I have been able to adopt a sound that is authentic, unique and most importantly personal. It is something that I am very proud of.

The biggest challenge for most composers is always how do you sustain a living through your art. My approach to this problem has always been to diversify your income streams. Although I would love to solely work on indi-films and composition commissions for the rest of my life, that is not realistic. I am currently studying a Master of Screen Scoring at NYU so am not working much due to my visa status. However, when I was working in Melbourne I was teaching music theory and analysis at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, I was working as a double bass player for an opera company, I was arranging music for musical theater artists, filming orchestral concerts and of course composing.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
One my favourite places in the city is the Lincoln Centre and in particular going to the Metropolitan Opera. I recently saw Brett Dean’s new opera Hamlet there and it was truly incredible.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am originally from Melbourne, Australia and I would love to shoutout to all my musical peers and mentors that have guided me along the way. I have a particular connection with the classical, new music and opera scene in Melbourne who are such industrious and innovative individuals. I recently had my string quartet piece Imperfect Cycles performed by alumni musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music. A big shout to those performers Meg Chen, Miya Stanton, Molly Collier – O’Boyle and James Morley.

Website: https://www.louisstevenscomposer.com/