ABOUT
PC: Rachel Russell Photography
Michael Stubblefield (b. 1989) is an American composer, guitarist, and music educator based in Hartford, Connecticut. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Michael began his higher education studies in music at Diablo Valley Community College, ultimately transferring to California State University, East Bay where he earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music. Michael is also a graduate of The Hartt School at the University of Hartford with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Composition and a minor in Music Theory.
His primary composition teachers include Robert Carl, David Macbride, Ken Steen, Jeffrey Miller, Frank La Rocca, Daniel Highman, Owen Lee, and Mark Alburger. Michael has also had additional studies, domestic and international, with Zae Munn, Joshua Marquez, Ingrid Stötzel, Evan Chambers, Payton MacDonald, Ofer Ben-Amotts, Jan Jisarek, and Kyung-Mee Rhee. Michael has also studied classical guitar with Christopher Ladd, Marc Teicholz, and Mark Simons, piano with Bruce Cook and Virginia Bigelow, and voice with Timothy Gary.
Michael's music consists primarily of instrumental chamber music, in addition to music for orchestra, solo instruments, and voice. His musical influences range from early Renaissance music to 20th century experimental music to heavy metal to non-western traditions. He has worked with numerous ensembles and performers including the Redshift Ensemble, the Cygnus Ensemble, the Tenebrae New Music Ensemble, the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, the Hartt Orchestra, the Hartt Composers Ensemble, the Opus Project Ensemble, guitarist Alex Aldridge, cellist Benjamin Stayner, pianist Feona Lee Jones, and many more. Performances of his music have happened across the San Francisco Bay, New England, and international performances in South Korea and Germany. Michael's music is published through ASCAP.
In addition to composing, Michael has also enjoyed a variety of performance experiences, having been a member of heavy metal bands, choirs, acoustic guitar ensembles, and new music ensembles. Highlights include singing in Fukuoka, Japan with the California State University Singers in 2014 and performing bass guitar with the new music group, The Opus Project Ensemble from 2013-2017.
Michael's interests outside of music include animals (especially exotic reptiles), reading, hiking, cooking, the San Francisco Giants and 49ers, and coffee. Michael is currently working throughout New England in a variety of music relation activities, as a composer, a private teacher in guitar, bass, piano, ukulele, voice, composition, and music theory, The Hartt School as an administrative assistant, and teaches music history and appreciation courses at Tunxis Community College in Farmington, Connecticut.