Park University announces the appointment of Ingrid Stölzel, D.M.A., as director of the University’s International Center for Music. Stölzel began her duties at Park Feb. 25.
Stölzel previously served as the program manager for the Youth Symphony of Kansas City for the past 12 years. She has been a member of newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble since 1998, most recently serving as the president of its board of directors. From 1997 to 2001, she was the associate director of research and development for Tempo Music Publications/American Institute of Musicology. Stölzel continues to serve as associate editor for the International Journal of Contemporary Composition, as well as an adjunct instructor of music theory at Park.
Described as a “composer of considerable gifts” and “musically confident and bold” by National Public Radio classical music critic Tom Manoff, Stölzel has earned a number of honors and awards, and her compositions are performed worldwide. In 2011, she was a finalist for the International Music Prize for Excellence in Composition and she received a Meet the Composer – MetLife Creative Connections Grant for a residency at the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, Calif. In 2010, Stölzel was the first prize winner in the New Music@ECU (East Carolina University) Festival’s Orchestra Composition Competition for Genius Loci – Spirit of Place for full orchestra. A year earlier, she won the Cheryl A. Spector Prize in Composition by the Third Millennium Ensemble for The Road is All for piano trio.
“Dr. Stölzel is familiar with the music community in Kansas City. Her presence as the director of the International Center for Music will add a new dimension to our programs,” said J. Mark Noe, Ph.D., chair of Park’s ICM and Department of Arts and Communications, and director of the Master of Arts in Communication and Leadership program.
Stölzel, a native of Germany who has lived in the United States since 1991, earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in music composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance in 2009. She also received a Bachelor of Music degree in music theory from UMKC, and a Master of Music in composition from the University of Hartford (Conn.).
The International Center for Music at Park University was established to foster the exchange of master teacher/performers, renowned young musicians and programs from countries across the globe. The education of emerging musicians is at the philosophical core of the Center’s mission and the quality of that training crucial to great artistry. The focus of the Center is on piano and strings performance. For more information about the International Center for Music, visit www.park.edu/icm.
