Long Bio

Heather Stebbins (b. 1987) is a composer, technologist, synthesist, and educator based in Washington, DC, where she is Assistant Professor of Electronic and Computer Music at George Washington University. She works with sounds created by instruments, found objects, nature, and voltage to generate musical experiences ranging from notated works for chamber ensembles to improvised performances on modular synthesizers. In all of her work, Stebbins strives to create sound worlds that are kinetic, resonant, and provoking.

Her music has been performed by ensembles such as the loadbang ensemble, Switch~, Ensemble U:, the JACK Quartet, Dal Niente, Sound Icon, Transient Canvas, Ensemble L’Arsenale, eighth blackbird, and the Riot Ensemble. She has worked with soloists Ning Yu, Andy Kozar, Carlos Cordeiro, Adam Vidiksis, and Sam Kelder to create highly personal pieces for solo instrument and electronics.

Recordings of Stebbins’ acoustic and electroacoustic works have been released on New Focus, SEAMUS, Not Art Records, and Coviello labels. She has released three solo albums of synthesizer-generated electronic music. She released her album At the End of the Sky in 2023 on superpang, a a Rome-based record label. New Forms, Old Selves (2022) and Olney (2021) are available through Zeromoon, a DC-based label of Intelligent Noise Music of the non-entertainment genre.

Stebbins is an active performer in the DMV-area experimental electronic music scene and has performed electroacoustic sets at Rhizome, the Pocket, Modular on the Mall, and Sonic Frontiers.

Stebbins studied primarily with Benjamin Broening and Joshua Fineberg and holds degrees from Boston University and the University of Richmond. Stebbins was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Estonia with composer Helena Tulve.