"Music has the capability of bridging the intangible world of sentiment with the tangible corporeal world; as such, to me, the creation of music feels like a blessing or a gift. I find myself at the mercy of inspiration; the music has to come to me on its own, and I have to remain tender to it, so I can embrace it when it comes. I approach the experience of music, written or unwritten, in the humblest and most appreciative of states."
- Stephanie E. Leotsakos

COMPOSER

Stephanie E. Leotsakos (she/her) (b.1993) is a Greek-Colombian-American composer. Her compositional style explores open tonality, lyricism, and drama, and it has been described as emotionally vulnerable and deeply colorful, almost synaesthetic. An opera enthusiast, Stephanie is interested in innovative uses of technology in opera that bridge tradition with innovation. She believes that opera throughout its history has been an art-form best suited to the multimedia capabilities of its current age. Stephanie has written and premiered two original multimedia chamber operas, Young Goodman Brown (2022) and OMG (2016). Young Goodman Brown received a glowing review for its international premiere at the 2023 Fringe TheatreFest in Barnstaple, U.K., which commended the program as “seriously good” and “not to be missed by all music lovers” (Richard Prowse, The Fringe Buzz, 06/25/23). OMG, which premiered under Stephanie’s baton in 2016, was awarded Princeton University’s Isidore and Helen Sacks Memorial Prize, and was reproduced at The Tank in NYC. Most recently, Stephanie was named the 2024 winner of the National Opera Association’s Dominick Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition sponsored by the Tulsa Community Foundation. In addition to composing opera, Stephanie has also composed orchestral and choral works, numerous chamber-works for voice, instruments, and piano, and both electroacoustic and digital works. Stephanie holds an M.A. from Rutgers University and a B.A. from Princeton University in composition/theory and conducting, as well as certificates in Vocal Performance and K-12 Music Education. She is pursuing a PhD/DMA in multimedia opera composition beginning in Fall 2024.

Stephanie studied opera composition with Grammy-award winning composer Dr. Robert L. Aldridge, and computer composition with Dr. Steven Kemper at Rutgers University from 2019 to 2021. From 2012 to 2016 at Princeton University, Stephanie’s primary mentors included Grammy-award winning composer Steven Mackey, Paul Lansky, and Donnacha Dennehy, who was her senior thesis advisor. Stephanie also studied techniques in composition with Greek composer, Panayiotis Dimopoulos in Kozani, Greece during the summer of 2014.

To hear more of Stephanie’s original music, visit the Works page.

EDUCATOR

“Professor Leotsakos is amazing. I have never understood music theory like I do now. She has such an inclusive approach to teaching her students, and it has allowed me to think in different ways. She is always willing to answer questions or provide clarification on any problems the class may have. She also leaves useful feedback on homework, exams, etc. that make it helpful to correct and understand mistakes.” - Wagner College undergraduate, Course: Music Theory II

“Professor Leotsakos is extremely talented and teaches the material in a very understandable and fun way. She also gives extremely beneficial and invaluable feedback.” - Wagner College undergraduate, Course: Music Theory II

“Professor Leotsakos is really passionate and knowledgeable about music and choir. She is just AMAZING and truly cares for her students!!” - Wagner College undergraduate, Course: Treble Concert Choir

“Stephanie is the perfect balance of kind and direct. She pushes my sons like a coach and does so with much warmth. Thank you, Stephanie, for your patience and teaching!” - Student parent, Stephanie’s Private Studio

Stephanie is passionate and dedicated educator. She believes in everyone’s potential for growth and creativity. Her research interests include how people learn (the mental processes used in active learning), the pedagogy of music theory (observing music with color and geometry in a kind of transformational theory), and in interdisciplinary learning between music, other arts, and the sciences, including the development of new educational technologies and resources. Over the past six years, Stephanie has been working on a new methodology for music theory education she is calling her “Gnotes Method.” This methodology aims to build upon musical fundamentals in an intuitive and creative way, emphasizing congruent audiovisual and perceptual training. In 2021, Stephanie founded the company GnotesbyStephanie, LLC that offers original research, music, and music-education resources to the public.

In 2022 and 2023, Stephanie served as composition, theory, and music technology faculty at Wagner College in Staten Island, NY. Her dedicated mentorship helped build a thriving community of talented student composers on campus in just two years, and led to the founding of a student-run Composers Collective. Stephanie’s composition studio hosted the first annual Wagner College Composers Concert in October 2021 which was widely commended by the community. One faculty called the educational event “monumental.” One graduated senior from Stephanie’s composition studio describes Stephanie’s teaching as,

“...genius… her way of thinking will shatter whatever rigidity you bring to the table. That’s not just her guidance harmonically and creatively - No, Stephanie changes the way you interact with the world. Nothing is off-limits; everything is inspiration.”

And upon her time ending at Wagner, another student wrote,

“I think I speak for all of your students when I say that your impact on Wagner and its students was influential in all the best ways, and you never failed to cultivate and inspire new ideas for the benefit of everyone around you. You will be severely missed.”

Stephanie’s undergraduate composers have gone on to win compositional accolades, including selection in the 2023 New York Monthly Film Festival. Many younger students in her online composition studio have received accolades as well, including a prizewinner of the NAfME 2022 National Young Composers Competition in the K-8 division.

See the Research & Pedagogy page to learn more about Stephanie’s pedagogical philosophy and research.

SOPRANO

"Young soprano Stephanie Leotsakos, who had most of the solo work, sang with brilliance and expressiveness, emanating from the orchestra beautifully." — Rutland Herald, VA 2018

“… and Stephanie Leotsakos’ Frasquita was a standout. (And when does Frasquita stand out?)”
— Parterre Box Reviews, NYC 2017

“As Belinda, Stephanie Leotsakos warmed up well to her role, singing comfortably in the higher register.”
— Princeton Town Topics, NJ 2015

Stephanie was recently named the 2020 winner of the first annual Masterwork Arts Foundation Vocal Competition, a $10,000 prize for “her outstanding artistic skill and talent, her commitment to excellence in the arts, and the range of her musical accomplishments.” To read her recent interview, follow the link below:
https://masterworkarts.blogspot.com/2020/06/all-about-our-vocal-competition-awardee.html.

Stephanie is an American-born, Greek-Colombian soprano with a brilliant and rich lyric-soprano voice. She has performed operatic roles and masterworks concerts with orchestra with Amore Opera Company, New York Lyric Opera Theatre, Princeton University Opera Theatre, Riverside Opera Company, OperAverona, the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Sussex County Youth Orchestra. Mainstage roles performed include Fiordiligi (Cosi fan Tutte), Berta (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Frasquita (Carmen), Susanna/Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Anna (Tobias and the Angel), Fortune/Venus (The Coronation of Poppea), Amelia (Amelia Goes to the Ball), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and Poussette (Manon). Stephanie has also given solo recital concerts. Most recently she presented a full program of standard and original art-song works in the 2022 Culture Close to Home Concert Series in Glen Rock, NJ. She has also given recitals through Long Island Opera Night, Princeton University, and the Mark Oswald Summer Program.

Stephanie served as soprano section leader of the Kirkpatrick Choir at Rutgers University under the direction of Dr. Patrick Gardner from 2019- 2021 and continues to serve as soprano section leader and cantor at All Saint’s Episcopal Church in Glen Rock, NJ. During Covid-19 quarantine, Stephanie solo cantored all weekly Sunday services live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube on Sunday mornings. Feel free to tune in at 10 AM’s on Sundays at https://www.facebook.com/allsaintsgr/. Stephanie received a Certificate in Vocal Performance from Princeton University in 2016.

To listen and view recordings of Stephanie singing, visit the Soprano page.

CONDUCTOR

"Stephanie Leotsakos, usually heard in the alto section, conducted the first of three pieces from the Moscow Synodal School. Ms. Leotsakos led the Glee Club with supreme confidence and a gentle flow to her conducting gestures, eliciting a very bright sound for Rachmaninoff’s Hvalite Ghospoda. The Russian words were consistently very crisp, and the closing “Alliluyia” especially resonant.
... especially in the case of Ms. Leotsakos, the University music department has produced career-level instrumentalists, singers and orchestral conductors, and now also choral directors."
— Princeton Town Topics, Feb. 24, 2016

Since 2021, Stephanie serves as conductor of the Wagner College Treble Concert Choir in Staten Island, NJ where she teaches in multiple instructional positions. She recently guest conducted the College Choir in their 2021 international summer tour in Italy, leading the choir in “Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen” from Johannes Brahms's “The German Requiem”, Op. 45. She currently studies orchestral and opera conducting with international conductor, Kynan Johns.

In 2021, Stephanie guest conducted the Sussex County Youth Orchestra in their post-covid revival season, leading an original string orchestra composition titled The Sussex County Suite. Pre-covid, Stephanie assistant conducted operas Cosi fan Tutte for Amore Opera Company in 2019 under Maestro Jose Alejandro Guzman, and La Boheme with the same company in 2018 under Maestro Scott Jackson Wiley. In 2018, she directed the Linwood Middle School Orchestras (grades 6-8) in North Brunswick, NJ and led them in the district’s String Festival Concert with the NBTP High School during her student teaching tenure. In 2017, she served as assistant conductor and mentor of the Sussex County Youth Orchestras in NJ, conducting works such as the Intermezzo (from Cavalleria Rusticana) by Pietro Mascagni. In 2016, she conducted the premieres of her first original opera, OMG, in Princeton, NJ and off-Broadway at The Tank in NYC. In the same year, she served as Assistant Student Conductor of the Princeton University Glee Club, conducting and performing with the choir locally and internationally in South Africa, where she was praised for her musical leadership in “Hvalite Ghospoda” from Rachmaninoff’s Vespers. Stephanie studied choral conducting at Princeton University with director of the Glee Club and Chamber Choir, Gabriel Crouch and orchestral conducting with director of the Princeton University Orchestra, Michael Pratt, and director of the Princeton University Sinfonia Orchestra, Ruth Ochs. In 2015, she participated in operatic conducting masterclasses at the OperAverona Masterclass Program for Singers and Conductors in Verona, Italy, where she studied the scores of Le Nozze di Figaro and Il Barbiere di Siviglia with conductors Julius Kalmar and Giovanni Pacor, and orchestral conducting study with Zoi Tsokanou at the Kozani International Music Seminar in Greece.

To learn more about Stephanie’s conducting endeavors, visit the Conductor page.

VIOLINIST

“Mommy, Daddy, I want a violin and a stick!” - After a musical episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Stephanie falls in love with the violin (1996)

Stephanie has been playing and performing worldwide with her violin since the age of three and has an extensive orchestral background. She is current strings faculty at Wagner College in Staten Island, teaching private violin, viola, and cello lessons, leading the college String Ensemble, and teaching the String Methods for NY K-12 Music Educators course. Stephanie has performed with Adelphi Orchestra in NJ, Amore Opera Orchestra in NYC, the Princeton University Orchestra, and the Sussex County Youth Orchestra.

Stephanie was brought up with Suzuki Method training and became an ambassador of music with the NJ Sussex County Youth Orchestras in 1998 at the age of five, remaining with them for 14 years and graduating as Concertmaster of the Youth Orchestra in 2012.  In 2017, she returned to the orchestras to assistant conduct, perform as a guest vocal soloist, and mentor. In 2021 she returned to SYCO as a strings mentor, soprano soloist, and conductor of the Preparatory Orchestra, premiering a new original work titled “Sussex County Suite.” In 2010 and 2011 she was a member of the NJMEA All-State Orchestra and Concertmaster of the Regional Chamber Orchestra, and was Concertmaster of the Sparta High School Honors Orchestra.  With both the Sussex County Youth Orchestra (SCYO) and the Princeton University Orchestra (PUO), Stephanie has performed worldwide in countries including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, China, England, Italy, and the Czech Republic. Additional countries include Colombia and Greece with whom she was a guest violinist with the Conservatory of Tolima Orchestra and the Municipal Conservatory of Kozani Orchestra.In 2014, Stephanie participated in the Orvieto International Fastival of Strings in Orvieto, Italy with her teacher Lenuta Ciulei Atanasiu, Director George Atanasiu, and pianist Marco Grisanti.

Stephanie continues to perform and teach with her violin, and enjoys playing many genres of music. She runs a thriving private studio on Zoom teaching violin, piano, voice, composition, and music theory. Stephanie loves to improvise with her violin and has done many collaborations with freelancing artists in the greater NYC area. For recordings of her playing, see her Violinist page.