I was fortunate to be born into a family where music abounded in our home and adjacent church. My mother was a singer, conducted the choir and played the organ. We had a superior church choir made up of students from Indiana University, and we sang Cantatas, anthems and choral music of the Lutheran and Protestant tradition. At an early age I began to sing, expanding that with piano studies, flute, and bass drum in high school.

At 15, my mother encouraged me to take composition at nearby Indiana U., but because no women were in my class (nor teaching composition), and the music in 1955 was serial and dissonant - not my style of choral writing - I gave up my hope to be a composer.

I earned a B.A. in Voice in Berlin with two Fulbrights, performing as a soloist in church choirs, small ensembles and professional groups of every variety, both in Germany and the U.S. I earned Ph.D. in German with a minor in music history, thus setting up a theme of the interplay of music and word which has continued throughout my life. My dissertation treated the interpretation of the Heinrich Heine's Lieder in Robert Schumann's song cycles.

Upon my return to the States, I taught German at Valparaiso University while performing with the Chicago Baroque Ensemble, the Collegium Musicum of Valparaiso University and as a faculty soloist in the Valparaiso University Chapel. After 15 years of university teaching, I left my tenured position one year before full professorship to pursue my original dream of composing.

In 1993, my first piece, Spring Song, was performed. The same year, the AlaskaWomen Conference of Women Composers invited me to write for their convention, and I won second place for another composition, Ideo. From 1994-2001, I directed two women's and one mixed chorus in Asheville, N.C., and in Ventura, CA.

From 1996 on, many of my compositions were starting to be performed and published, and I began to receive commissions and grants. In 1999, I won second place for my Gloria in the Ojai Camarata?s International Choral Competition. After the death of my mother, I completed Mater in Memoriam: For Irene, a Requiem for SSAA, which premiered in 2002 in Bethesda Maryland and in 2003 as a multimedia production on the West Coast under my direction. It is the only requiem written for women's voices by a woman with a woman as its main theme.

In my choral music, I like to explore a broad range of sonorities and harmonies, particularly for women's voices, I believe singing is a way to use one's voice for expressing the highest human emotions, and to create community.

My music challenges the performers, giving them poetry which is stimulating, inspiring, intensely personal, yet inclusive, and often with a distinctly feminine perspective.

I can be reached at femcomposer@naomimusic.com

CHORAL/VOCAL WORKS FOR WOMEN BY NAOMI STEPHAN

1. Alleluia SSAA, SSA with or without optional hand-held-percussion (YR)
2. All Shall Be Well SSA, Flute, Horn, Bell, (Text: Julian of Norwich) (NM) *
3. Angels We have Heard on High, SSAA (YR)
4. Ave Pudendum, Coloratura Sop, SSA Trio (in Latin) (YR)
5. Charge of the Star Goddess (Doreen Valiente) SSA, Flute, Harp, Vibe, Field Drum *
6. From Heaven Above SAA, Flute, Drum, Wood block (YR)
7. Gloria SSAA, Percussion, Chimes; (YR)
8. Hodie SSSAA (H. of Bingen) (TC)
9. Homage à Toi (set to humming and "ah" only) Descant Sop. SSAA (NM)
10. Ideo SSAA + Vib. and Mba (piano also possible) (H. of Bingen) (YR)
11. In Dulci Jubilo SSA, Flute or Trumpet, (YR)
12. I Saw Three Ships, SSAA Flute, Piano (YR)
13. 13. K-Z Liebeslied (Love Song from a Concentration Camp) Sop, Flute, Piano, or SA,
    Flute and Piano (NM)
14. Learn to Think Lizard SSAA, (Sue Carroll Moore) (YR)
15. Liebst Du um Schönheit, SSAA, Oboe or Soprano Solo (arr. of song by Clara Schumann) in German and English (YR)
16. Lullaby (Marina) SSA (Russian Phonetics and English) (NM)
17. Mater in Memoriam: For Irene a memorial requiem for SSAA, Chamber Ensemble: Flute, Oboe, Vibe, Perc, Vln, Via, Cello, Piano, Dance, Graphics; also for Flute, Horn, Vibe, Piano, or Piano alone (Naomi Stephan/Sue Moore) Six choral movements (as well as two instrumental movements) can also be performed as separate pieces:
    
    (m. 2) Mama
    (m. 3) Thank You
    (m. 4) The Girl I Couldn?t Be
    (m. 6) Second Chance
    (m. 7) Glimmering Girl
    (m. 8) Now You Go to Gentle Rest
    
    
18. Na Maria Soprano, Viola, hand held percussion, (Biereis de Romains) (NM)
19. Our Promised Land (Original title: Well of Loneliness) SSAA (Sue Moore), (YR)*
20. O Virtus Sapientiae SSA Marimba, Vibe (or piano or organ) (H. von Bingen) (TC)
21. Sing Out! Sing Out! SSA, hand held percussion (Naomi Stephan) (NM) *
22. Spring Song SSA (Sue Moore) (YR)
23. Thousands or More (English Folk Song) SSA (NM)
24. Witches Song SSA*
    
    *under revision (one composing program to another), or reediting
    
    YR=Yelton Rhodes Music, YRmusic.com
    TC=Treble Clef Press, trebleclefpress.com
    NM=naomimusic.com

For more information, please go to www.naomimusic.com
or contact Naomi Stephan at femcomposer@naomimusic.com