When I am composing,
I am smiling.
“When I am composing, I am smiling.”
Meet Stella
Stella G. Gitelman Willoughby (b. 2000) is a national and international award-winning composer from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Stella composes for solo instruments, voice, large and small chamber ensembles, and symphony orchestra. Dedicated to creative and interdisciplinary collaboration, Stella works with musicians, dancers, filmmakers, performance and fine artists. She writes music for concert performances, recording projects, music festivals, dance, performance and public art installations, audition repertoire, film, to accompany historical and liturgical text, for student musicians, and academic presentations. Stella highly values the individuality of each performer, and the unique qualities of each instrument. She creates works that highlight their distinct sound, bringing it to the forefront.
Stella G. Gitelman Willoughby (b. 2000) is a national and international award-winning composer from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Stella composes for solo instruments, voice, large and small chamber ensembles, and symphony orchestra. Dedicated to creative and interdisciplinary collaboration, Stella works with musicians, dancers, filmmakers, performance and fine artists. She writes music for concert performances, recording projects, music festivals, dance, performance and public art installations, audition repertoire, film, to accompany historical and liturgical text, for student musicians, and academic presentations.
Stella highly values the individuality of each performer, and the unique qualities of each instrument. She creates works that highlight their distinct sound, bringing it to the forefront.
Meet Stella
Stella has her own musical voice.
As a toddler, Stella improvised on the kitchen table; she harmonized with the windshield wipers. At five years old, she started writing down her compositions.
Stella is an nine-time ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award winner and finalist. Recognized by the American Composers Orchestra, she was recently selected for an EarShot Reading in collaboration with ROCO - Houston Chamber Orchestra and the League of American Orchestras Conference in Houston, Texas.
She was a finalist and selected to compete in the 10th International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition in Prague, Czech Republic. She has been recognized as an “Outstanding Musician” and “Most Distinguished Musician + Young Talent Special Mention” in the IBLA Grand Prize competition in Ragusa, Italy, and as an “Emerging Composer” by the Tribeca New Music Young Composers Competition. Stella is a six-time American Prize award winner and finalist. Her work has also won awards and been performed at the National Association of Music Educators, and Webster University Young Composers Competition. Frequently, Stella’s work is selected for the Berklee Department of Composition semi-annual concert.
Her original compositions are commissioned, licensed, performed, and used in educational settings by musicians, ensembles, choirs, and symphony orchestras, artists and educators throughout the United States and around the world, including Boston, New York, New Haven, St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, Hawaii, Canada, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, and Australia; by members of the Boston Ballet, Boston Pops, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra (Germany), Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (Canada), Salisbury Symphony Orchestra (NC), and Billings Symphony Orchestra (MT); at the Yale School of Music Norfolk New Music Workshop, by the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra chamber ensemble, Nightingale Vocal Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, Sound Icon Ensemble, PUBLIQuartet, Equinox Chamber Players, Camerata Winds Quintet, Dinosaur Annex, New Composers Ensemble, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra, at the Annual Edmonton Fringe Festival (Canada) and Boston’s Old South Church, among others.
Stella has her own musical voice.
As a toddler, Stella improvised on the kitchen table; she harmonized with the windshield wipers. At five years old, she started writing down her compositions.
Stella is an nine-time ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award winner and finalist. Recognized by the American Composers Orchestra, she was recently selected for an EarShot Reading in collaboration with ROCO - Houston Chamber Orchestra and the League of American Orchestras Conference in Houston, Texas.
She was a finalist and selected to compete in the 10th International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition in Prague, Czech Republic. She has been recognized as an “Outstanding Musician” and “Most Distinguished Musician +Young Talent Special Mention” in the IBLA Grand Prize competition in Ragusa, Italy, and as an “Emerging Composer” by the Tribeca New Music Young Composers Competition. Stella is a six-time American Prize award winner and finalist. Her work has also won awards and been performed at the National Association of Music Educators, and Webster University Young Composers Competition. Frequently, Stella’s work is selected for the Berklee Department of Composition semi-annual concert.
Her original compositions are commissioned, licensed, performed, and used in educational settings by musicians, ensembles, choirs, and symphony orchestras, artists and educators throughout the United States and around the world, including Boston, New York, New Haven, St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, Hawaii, Canada, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, and Australia; by members of the Boston Ballet, Boston Pops, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra (Germany), Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (Canada), Salisbury Symphony Orchestra (NC), and Billings Symphony Orchestra (MT); at the Yale School of Music Norfolk New Music Workshop, by the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra chamber ensemble, Nightingale Vocal Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, Sound Icon Ensemble, PUBLIQuartet, Equinox Chamber Players, Camerata Winds Quintet, Dinosaur Annex, New Composers Ensemble, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra, at the Annual Edmonton Fringe Festival (Canada) and Boston’s Old South Church, among others.
Stella’s Vision
To explore and develop the depth and range of her own music composition, continue collaborating with artists, performers, and creators in and out of the recording studio, and to write music with and for individual musicians and groups of musicians. She embraces opportunities for her original music to be performed in, and heard by, the public.
Stella’s Vision
To explore and develop the depth and range of her own music composition, continue collaborating with artists, performers, and creators in and out of the recording studio, and to write music with and for individual musicians and groups of musicians. She embraces opportunities for her original music to be performed in, and heard by,
the public.
At Berklee College of Music, Stella has earned recognition for her creative achievements.
Stella graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music (B.M. in Composition). She currently studies privately with composers Elena Ruehr (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and with Arnold Friedman (Berklee College of Music). Stella has also studied with composers Richard Carrick, Marti Epstein, Panagiotis Liaropoulos, and Alla Elena Cohen.
Stella received merit awards, including the Earle Brown Award for Outstanding Composition Achievement, the Vuk Kulenovic Memorial Prize for Outstanding Composition Achievement, and The Berklee Grant. She is also grateful to have received merit and financial support from the Berklee World Tour Scholarship, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and the Jewish Family & Children’s Service.
At Berklee College of Music, Stella has earned recognition for her creative achievements.
Stella graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music (B.M. in Composition). She currently studies privately with composers Elena Ruehr (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and with Arnold Friedman (Berklee College of Music). Stella has also studied with composers Richard Carrick, Marti Epstein, Panagiotis Liaropoulos, and Alla Elena Cohen.
Stella received merit awards, including the Earle Brown Award for Outstanding Composition Achievement, the Vuk Kulenovic Memorial Prize for Outstanding Composition Achievement, and The Berklee Grant. She is also grateful to have received merit and financial support from the Berklee World Tour Scholarship, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and the Jewish Family & Children’s Service.
Stella has a self-designed minor in Music Archives.
She works with archival music collections from the 10th–21st century including those at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Harvard University, Folger Shakespeare Library, and Museo Civico Medievale in Bologna, Italy. She reads Latin and early music notation. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Stella is completing a journal article on the history of quadraphonic sound in classical music.
Stella enjoys supporting other composers and musicians by collaboratively orchestrating, engraving, and archiving their works.
Stella can also be found reading the plays of William Shakespeare, conducting early modern paleography, and eating large quantities of ice cream.
Stella has a self-designed minor in Music Archives.
She works with archival music collections from the 10th–21st century including those at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Harvard University, Folger Shakespeare Library, and Museo Civico Medievale in Bologna, Italy. She reads Latin and early music notation. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Stella is completing a journal article on the history of quadraphonic sound in classical music.
Stella enjoys supporting other composers and musicians by collaboratively orchestrating, engraving, and archiving their works.
Stella can also be found reading the plays of William Shakespeare, conducting early modern paleography, and eating large quantities of ice cream.